Chameleon
by bookwormbullet
Summary: AU- Cammie Morgan is a young girl living in the village of Gallagher with her boyfriend Josh. When her village is attacked, Cammie is captured by a mysterious green eyed boy who just so happens to be working for her sort-of dad, Joe Solomon. Join Cammie as she battles with death, family, and the deadliest of them all, love. Eventual Zammie! Full summary inside. Rated T for Teen.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hey guys, this is my first fanfic, so please bear with me :) Below is the background story for this fanfic. Please MAKE SURE YOU READ IT because you won't understand anything going on in the story if you don't. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: **I don't own the Gallagher Girls series (unfortunately). Only the plot and setting(s) are mine.

**Background Story**

This fanfic takes place in the future, where humans are now living in little villages. The villages are "ruled" by a ship named _Cavan_. The _Cavan_ is literally a big floating ship in the sky that oversees the villages and keeps everything under control. Most villagers refer to _Cavan_ as "Main Control," because everything in the village is operated from the ship. The ship is run by a group of people called "The Circle of Cavan." Inside the circle are some of the most important elected leaders of the time. It is an honor to be a part of the circle and govern the villages. The leader of the Circle of Cavan is Catherine Goode. She's kind of like the queen of all the villages. In each village, there is a leader and ten Council Officials. The council officials report to the leaders of the villages, who report to Catherine.

Besides the villagers, there is another group of humans. They are called Outlanders. Outlanders want to destroy the ship _Cavan_ and the government system of the villages. Because of this threat, the Circle of Cavan labels all Outlanders as enemies. Outlanders attack villages from time to time, and can easily wipe out an entire village. To help defend a village during an Outlander attack, the Circle of Cavan sends droids from the ship to exterminate the Outlanders. I'll explain more about Outlanders later.

Now, in each village, there are about three hundred people. Cammie Morgan is a young girl who is living in the village of Gallagher. There was an attack on Gallagher by Outlanders and both Cammie's parents died in the battle. Cammie was only three years old. Josh's parents both died as well. Cammie and Josh have been friends since they were toddlers, and are now dating. They are both Council officials of Gallagher. The leader of Gallagher used to be Cammie's dad, but when he died, Joe Solomon took his place.

In Gallagher, everyone has their own apartment or house. An apartment is large enough for two people, while a house can is large enough for four. Cammie, Josh, and Joe each have their own apartment.

So, coming back to the subject of Outlanders, I mentioned that they are a group of people who don't believe in the government system of the villages. The Outlanders' main objective is to destroy the villages one by one. To destroy a village, an Outlander is sent to a village to act as a double agent. The Outlander will secretly spy on the village and pass important information to other Outlanders. Nobody knows if one person is an Outlander, until they betray the village they are currently residing in. Just to be safe, every week, Council officials go around searching people's houses to make sure there are no Outlanders. An Outlander's battle uniform includes an animal mask.

This story is about Cammie and her life at Gallagher and the different surprises that come up.

* * *

**~Chameleon~**

**Chapter 1**

The sunlight shone through the windows of Cammie's bedroom a little brighter than when she usually got up. Cammie sat up with a start and frowned at the intensity of the light. Rubbing her eyes, she peered at the little clock sitting on her nightstand. She had woken up an hour later then she usually did. Giving a small sound of surprise, she threw the covers back and leaped out of bed.

Cammie hurriedly threw on a green tank top and black jeans and brushed her teeth. She sat on her bed and pulled out her combat boots. Reaching underneath the bed, she pulled out a black box from underneath her bed. Inside it was her gun, which she stuffed into the back pocket of her jeans. She also took a knife and slid it into her boot.

Cammie passed the mirror in the hallway and stopped short at the sight of her hair. She ran her fingers through it a couple of times, trying to get rid of the tangles, but gave up. Instead she tied it up into a messy bun before leaving the apartment.

As Cammie stepped out of her apartment, she was greeted by the many people walking down the main road. She smiled as she passed each pedestrian and glanced up into the sky. Cammie could clearly see Cavan, sitting midair. The ship was looking even more massive and huge than normal. She had always wondered how the Circle of Cavan had managed to keep the ship afloat forever.

Cammie hurried towards the big gray building up ahead the road, which was the cafeteria. This was where everyone had their meals. There was a crowd of people exiting the building, so Cammie had to squeeze her way through the double doors and into the cafeteria. She jogged up to the counter, where a lady in her mid-50s was talking to one of the villagers.

When the lady finished her conversation with the villager, she turned towards Cammie. "Morning, Cammie!" she smiled.

"Good morning Patricia," Cammie grinned back. "I hope I'm not too late for breakfast. Is there anything left?"

"We have a few eggs, and some toast," Patricia replied. "Is that fine?"

"Yeah, of course," Cammie took a seat at one of the long tables in the room as Patricia disappeared into the kitchen. A few minutes later, Patricia appeared with an omelet, two pieces of toast, and a glass of orange juice.

"Here you go," she said, setting the food down in front of Cammie.

"Patricia?" Cammie asked. "Before you go, would you happen to know where Josh is?"

Patricia chuckled. "I saw him with Joe earlier, heading towards the Council Hall. "Don't know if he's still there, but you can check."

"Thanks," Cammie said gratefully.

"No problem," Patricia patted Cammie's back. "He's a good kid; Josh." She smiled one last time before walking back towards the kitchen.

Cammie continued eating and when she was done, waved Patricia goodbye and left the cafeteria. She walked towards the Council Hall and entered the building.

Two men were standing at a table looking at a map spread out in front of them. The man on the left was tall, with dark hair and a scruffy looking beard. This was Joe Solomon, the man who had raised Cammie ever since her parents had died. The boy standing next to him was Josh Abrams, Cammie's boyfriend. He had brown hair and blue eyes, and looked like your typical teenage heartthrob.

Josh turned at the sound of the door opening and grinned. "Hey there," he gave Cammie a hug and pressed his lips to her forehead.

"Hi," Cammie smiled. "Good morning, Joe," she nodded at Joe.

"Hey kiddo," Joe ruffled Cammie's hair. "Did you sleep well?"

Cammie nodded and her eyes fell on the big map spread out on the table. "What's this?" she asked.

Josh looked at Joe, and coughed nervously.

Cammie glanced up at Josh, frowning. "What's wrong?"

Joe shook his head slightly.

Josh said, "She has a right to know."

"A right to know what?" Cammie asked, turning towards Joe. "Tell me."

Joe cleared his throat. "The guards up at the watch towers spotted a couple of Outlanders today."

"What?!" Cammie said, shocked. "But that's impossible. None of the Outlanders know the location of Gallagher!"

"Well, they know now," Josh said solemnly.

Cammie looked at Joe. "If the Outlanders know where we are…." her voice trailed off.

"That means that we have an Outlander in this village." Josh filled in. His mouth was pressed into a firm line.

"We have to do something!" Cammie exclaimed.

Joe nodded. "There's going to be a Council meeting today at noon. We'll vote on what's our best action."

"There's not enough time!" Cammie said. "The Outlanders could attack any second. We have to take action now!"

"Cammie," Joe said tiredly. "I've already doubled the amount of guards surrounding the perimeter. We'll do a quick Outlander search and once we find the guy, we'll put him in prison. Just stay put for a couple more hours, okay?" He turned and the left the building.

"C'mon," Josh said. "We should probably start the search."

Cammie nodded and followed him out of the room.

After a couple of hours, Josh and Cammie had searched all the houses of the villagers. They had found nothing. Nobody seemed to be the Outlander-type, except this one lady, who was furious when Cammie had told her she was going to search her home…

_"I have nothing here!" the woman cried out indignantly. "You can't just come into my house unwelcome!"_

_ "I'm sorry, ma'am," Cammie said for the hundredth time. "But it's the local protocol. We're just trying to keep everyone safe. Everyone is getting their homes searched." She turned and started to exit the house._

_ The woman started grumbling and said, "What about Joe Solomon. Why don't you search his house? He could be the Outlander for all we know!"_

_ Cammie wheeled onto the woman. "Joe Solomon is a good person, all right? He raised me as one of his own when both of my parents died from an Outlander attack. Those Outlanders killed his best friend. If you think that he doesn't hate Outlanders for one second, you're wrong!"_

_ The woman stepped back, surprised. "I'm sorry__…__ I didn__'__t know__…__.__"_

_ "That's all right," Cammie turned and left the house._

Cammie sighed at the memory and sank down into one of the chairs in the Council room. Josh came and sat down next to her.

"You okay?" Josh asked, caressing her cheek.

"Yeah," Cammie smiled. "I'm just worried."

"Me too," Josh smiled. "But that doesn't mean we shouldn't be happy. C'mon," he stood up and held out a hand for Cammie. "I wanted to show you something."

"What?" Cammie took his hand and stood up.

"You'll see," Josh smiled and led Cammie out of the building and onto the streets.

**A/N: So, what did you guys think? Does it make sense? I'm sorry that it's such a short chapter. The next chapter will hopefully be longer. All you Zammie fans don't have to worry, Zach will come up in the next few chapters :) Remember to review your thoughts!**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Hey guys! Thanks so much for choosing to continue to read my story! I kinda want to get on with the first few chapters so you guys can get your Zammie moments in them. **

**A a special shout out for my first four reviewers! (I know four reviews sound pathetic :p)**

**Smirk And Walk Away: Oh my gosh, you literally just made my day with your compliments. I honestly don't care if your reviews are like three words, just saying that you love my story is enough :) Thanks for being patient for Zach's appearance.**

**kaitgirl: I'm glad I put the background info up, too. I was explaining the story to one of my friends the other day, and she just gave me this confused look. So, hopefully it helped you. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!**

**Katniss979-Goode-Morgan: I'm really really sorry about the whole Josh & Cammie thing. If you really don't want to read more scenes with them, then I advise you to skip this chapter. Just hang in there for a couple more chapters, okay?**

**Guest: Thanks for pointing out that mistake! I can't believe I didn't catch that!**

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Gallagher Girls :(

* * *

**Chapter 2**

Josh pulled Cammie along with him as he walked towards the main gate.

"How are we going to get out?" Cammie whispered to him. "I've never snuck out before."

"Just wait," he whispered back. Josh walked up to the security guard standing at the gate. "Hey Paul," Josh smiled at the guard. "Joe just wanted us to give some orders to the guards at the watch towers."

"I can send someone to do that for you," the guard said in a deep voice.

"No, that wouldn't be necessary," Josh shook his head. "Joe told us to tell them ourselves."

The guard gave them a look of doubt, but stepped aside to let them pass.

"Thanks, big guy," Josh grinned and patted the guard's tattooed arm.

Cammie just gave the guard a wavering smile and hurried after Josh. "I can't believe you," she smirked at Josh as they trudged into the woods.

"Me neither," Josh chuckled. "Close your eyes," he came over to Cammie.

"Okay," Cammie said uncertainly, but shut her eyes.

"Be careful now," Josh slowly led Cammie through the forest, making sure she wouldn't stumble.

"If I fall, you're going to be in big trouble," Cammie warned.

"Hold on," he was all he said.

"Wha-" before she could register what was happening; Josh had picked her up and was running while carrying her piggyback.

"Josh!" she squealed. "Put me down!"

"Keep your eyes closed," he panted.

As they kept on running, Cammie was sure she could hear the sound of water. "Josh where are we going?" she called, smiling.

"We're almost there," he replied. After a couple of minutes, Josh slowed to a stop and slid Cammie off of his back. "Open your eyes," he said softly.

She did, and took a small gasp. The scene laid out in front of her looked beautiful. There was a little waterfall trickling into a sparkling lake. There were birds and a couple of butterflies flying around, and the sun shone brightly through the tall redwood trees. "It's amazing," she breathed.

"I saw it while I went hunting with the others," Josh smiled. "I didn't tell them, of course, but I wanted to show you."

Cammie turned towards him. "Thank you," she grinned. She turned back and walked out onto a large rock that jutted out into the water. Closing her eyes, she let herself melt away with the calming sounds of the waterfall. Suddenly, she heard a big splash. She opened her eyes, and saw Josh in the lake with only his boxers on.

"What are you doing?" Cammie cried. "You're going to get into huge trouble!"

"Oh come on," Josh said. "The water's perfect! Get in here!"

"Josh, we'll be late for the meeting," Cammie reminded him.

"Who cares? Can't I have some fun with my girlfriend for once?" Josh asked. When Cammie didn't budge, he threatened, "If you don't come in here, I'll climb out and start tickling you like crazy."

"Okay, okay," Cammie started taking off her boots. She made sure no weapons were on her body before joining Josh in the lake.

Josh and Cammie spent the whole morning splashing each other, sharing a few lip-locks here and there, doing cannonballs into the water, swimming races, and basically just having fun.

After a while, Cammie stared up at the sky. The sun was almost directly overhead. "It's almost noon. We're going to be late for the Council meeting," she said. When Josh didn't answer, she glanced at him. "Josh?"

But Josh wasn't paying attention. He was gazing intently out past Cammie's shoulder.

"What is it?" Cammie asked, turning around.

Josh put his finger to his lips, pushed Cammie towards the waterfall, and told her to hide behind the pouring water. He swam towards the shore and grabbed their clothes and weapons.

Cammie ducked behind the waterfall and waited for Josh. She stood underneath the little cave that was behind the waterfall.

"What happened?" She whispered to Josh as he joined her.

"I heard some people coming," Josh whispered back.

"Outlanders?" Cammie asked.

Josh shrugged. "Maybe."

Cammie was about to how many people Josh thought were coming when she heard a shout. Her head whipped towards the sound.

"Hurry up guys! We can't be late!" a male voice called out. A bunch of heavy footsteps could be heard. Josh took Cammie's hand and pulled her into him. The footsteps started to fade away.

"Sir! Wait!" a voice shouted out. The hairs on the back of Cammie's neck stood straight.

"What is it?" an impatient voice came closer to where Cammie and Josh were. Cammie craned her neck and caught a glimpse of a tall man with dark hair wearing a tiger mask.

"The grass….it's wet. That can only mean one thing," the voice explained. "Someone was splashing water around not too long ago. And they're probably still here since the grass isn't even close to dry."

"Search the area," the tiger masked man commanded. "There's no place for them to hide."

Cammie took a sharp breath and Josh squeezed her hand in reassurance.

A couple of Outlanders trudged into the lake and kicked around in the water. After a few minutes, a woman declared, "There's no one here." She had an accent that sounded British.

"Then let's leave," the tiger masked man turned and started walking away from the lake. "Joe is expecting us, and he's going to be expecting an attack in the next hour or so." The sound of the footsteps slowly disappeared.

Cammie's eyes widened. Joe is expecting us. Did the man mean Joe Solomon? He was the impostor?!

_"What about Joe Solomon. Why don't you search his house? He could be the Outlander for all we know!"_ Cammie remembered the woman's words. But she still couldn't believe it. The man who had acted as a second father to Cammie? No, it couldn't be. He'd never betray them. Joe hated Outlanders. But the sickening feeling in her stomach didn't go away.

Cammie looked up at Josh, who was staring dead ahead, his face twisted into a look of horror. "Josh?" Cammie asked, placing her hand on his forearm.

"The Outlanders," Josh whispered. He turned towards Cammie. "They were heading for Gallagher."

**A/N: Dun, dun, dun! I have a feeling that this chapter made a lot of readers sick because of the Josh & Cammie moments. I don't know if you guys noticed, but one of the main characters of the Gallagher Girls Series was mentioned in this chapter. Kudos to whoever can guess who it is :)**

**Anyways, I have to apologize that this chapter was also really short :( So, to make it up for you guys, I'll update the next chapter later tonight. **


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Okay guys, here's your next chapter. Sorry that took so long. But I forgot to mention this. Last year, Ally Carter posted on her blog that Tonik Productions was considering making the Gallagher Girls series into a movie franchise. I know that it's kinda late, but I just wanted to put that out there just in case someone didn't know already. I was super happy, because I know that Disney or someone was considering the I'd Tell You I Love, But Then I'd Have To Kill You to be made into a movie in 2009, but the offer got turned down or something, which was really disappointing. **

**Anyways, I promise that this is the last chapter where there are any Josh & Cammie moments (hint, hint). Thanks again for reviewing, and congrats to GallagherGirls13BYE and one of my guest reviewers! They both got yesterday's question correct. The tiger masked man IS Zach and the woman with the British accent IS Bex :p **

**Disclaimer: **Only the story line belongs to me in this fanfic.

* * *

**Chapter 3**

Josh and Cammie ran quietly towards Gallagher, making sure they didn't accidentally bump into any Outlanders. They were careful not to step on branches or produce any sound when their feet hit the ground. All the years of physical training had come into handy after all. Cammie found it hard to focus, though. She was still thinking about Joe being an Outlander. She brushed her hand across her face and it came back wet. She hadn't even realized she was crying.

Suddenly, Josh held out a hand to stop Cammie. He pointed in front of them, and when Cammie squinted her eyes, she could make out several Outlanders camped out underneath the low hanging branches of the trees.

"We're going to have to find another way around," Josh whispered. "C'mon."

Cammie followed him away from the Outlanders, and along the perimeter of the village. The Outlanders had surrounded almost the entire village. But, after dodging the guards at the watch towers, they found themselves at the side fence that ran along the perimeter of the village.

"Weird…." Josh said. "Why haven't the Outlanders covered this area yet?"

"You're right, that is strange," Cammie admitted. "We should hurry and go tell the others about what's happening."

"Yeah, here," Josh knelt down and held his hands out in front of him. "I'll give you a boost."

Cammie hoisted herself over the fence and jumped down, landing in a crouch. A second later, Josh was beside her.

Seeing Cammie's tear-stained face, Josh took her hand. "Cammie, I'm sorry. I know how much Joe meant to you."

Cammie nodded numbly and bit her lip to keep more tears from falling. "Let's just go."

They took off walking quickly towards the Council Building. Josh burst through the door and stopped short when they saw the gaping faces of the other Council members.

"Cammie? Josh? Where were you guys?" Joe asked sternly. "You're late."

"We're sorry," Cammie apologized.

"And why are you guys all wet?" Joe raised an eyebrow.

Cammie glanced at Josh, who was looking at her with a worried expression. He cleared his throat and said, "It was my fault sir. We….we snuck out…." A collective gasp rose from the other people in the room.

"You did what?" Joe turned his head sharply towards Cammie. "Is this true?"

Cammie swallowed and nodded. She desperately wanted to run over to Joe and throttle him. She was really mad, but did her best to refrain from exploding with anger.

"Do you know how dangerous that is?" Joe demanded. "You could have been killed!"

"I know, it was entirely my fault, sir," Josh said. "Cammie had no part in this, she doesn't deserve a punishment."

"That's beside the point," Cammie cut in, fixing Joe a harsh glare. "We saw a couple of Outlanders on our way back."

Joe took in a sharp breath, but allowed Cammie to continue.

"They were talking about invading the village in the next hour," Cammie looked around the room at the other council members. "They've got the whole perimeter surrounded." _But I guess Joe already knows that_, she thought bitterly.

"What?" This time it was Patricia who spoke. The lines on her face were etched with worry. "That's not possible. The guards would have seen them."

"They're well hidden by the forest," Cammie explained. "Listen, we need to put the entire village into lockdown. It's the only thing we can do right now."

Josh nodded slowly. "She's right. We have to move, now."

Joe looked at both of them. "All right then," he said, glancing at his watch. "You two go and ask one of the radio operators to send a distress signal to Cavan. Have them ask for about a dozen droids. Meanwhile, I'll sound the alarm."

* * *

"CODE BLACK. CODE BLACK. THIS IS NOT A DRILL. PROCEED INTO LOCKDOWN. I REPEAT, THIS IS NOT A DRILL," Joe's voice blared over the speaker. The volume was loud enough so that all the villagers could hear it, but not loud enough for the Outlanders positioned beyond the watch towers.

Cammie had joined Josh and the others in the weapons room. They were loading themselves with everything stocked in the room. All the soldiers were yelling at one another; shouting orders. Cammie looked around the room. Everyone seemed really worried. She glanced at Josh. There were lines creasing his forehead. "Josh," she asked quietly. "Are you okay?"

He looked up as if he realized she was there for the first time. "Uh, yeah. I'm okay. How about you?"

"Fine," Cammie smiled and placed her hand on his cheek.

Josh glanced down at the weapons in Cammie's arms. "Who are those for?" he asked, frowning.

"They're for me," Cammie said slowly.

"Cammie, you're not coming with us," Josh said sternly. "I won't let you go into battle."

"Why not?" Cammie said indignantly. "I can fight as well as any of you."

"It's too dangerous!" Josh replied, reaching for the weapons in her arms. Cammie stepped back and glared at him as Joe entered the room.

"Everyone ready?" Joe called out. His eyes fell on Cammie. "Cam, what are you doing here? Go with the other villagers in the cafeteria."

"No," Cammie said defiantly. "I want to fight."

"Are you out of your mind, kiddo?" Joe asked. "You're going to get yourself killed."

"Don't call me that!" Cammie said, anger rising in her voice.

"Kid- Cammie. I won't tell you again," Joe pressed on. "You're not coming with us."

Cammie rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. Suddenly, a loud beeping sound was heard from outside. Joe walked over to the door and pushed it open. Hovering above the ground in the town square were about a dozen droids, all ready to for Joe's instructions.

"Josh, can you and Cammie go and tell the droids the protocol?" Joe asked.

Josh nodded and Cammie followed him outside. They went to each droid and specifically told them the orders Joe had given.

After a few minutes, Joe poked his head into the outside. "Josh, get in here." he called out. "We have a problem."

"Stay here," Josh told Cammie and ran off.

Cammie ignored him and hurried after him. Inside, the soldiers were gathered in a circle, looking troubled.

"What is it?" Josh asked.

"We're short on staff," Joe said quietly. "We have enough soldiers, but we need someone to protect the cafeteria."

"What about the droids?" Josh asked.

"We need the droids to handle the Outlanders," Joe said. "And I'd rather not have a machine protect the rest of my village.

"I can help," Cammie suggested.

Josh and Joe ignored her and continued talking within themselves.

She cleared her throat and tried again. "I can help."

Josh and Joe looked at her with disbelief. "Cammie, I just told you. You can't-"

"You need all the help you can get," Cammie said confidently.

"Just let her in," Patricia spoke up from the group of soldiers. "She can take care of herself."

"I can't just-" Joe protested. But, Cammie interrupted.

"Please, Joe," she said softly. "My dad would have wanted this."

"Cammie, we can't just let you die," Josh put in. "I can't lose you."

Just then, an explosion went off. The whole building shook and bits of the ceiling fell to the ground. Joe looked up, surprised. "They've started to attack. We need to move now!" The soldiers stood up and ran out of the room. Joe turned to Cammie and said, "Go to the cafeteria and protect the other villagers at all costs!" before leaving.

Cammie nodded and looked up at Josh. "Go," she whispered. "They need you."

"Dammit Cammie," Josh shook his head and kissed her fiercely. It was a hard, wild, rough kiss. It was as if this kiss was the last thing they could do together before they could ever see each other again.

Josh pulled away, and stared deeply into Cammie's eyes. "Stay safe. I'll see you in a little while." He started to step back. "I love you," he whispered.

"I love you too," Cammie whispered back. She kissed him one last time before he ran off to join the other soldiers. She stood there, staring at his back going farther and farther away. He looked back, one last time, and smiled at her, before disappearing beyond the gate.

**A/N: What do you think? Sorry for the last few paragraphs. That probably made some of you guys throw up or something. But I kinda had to put that in there, because otherwise, Cammie's relationship with Josh would seem completely fake. (Even though it kinda already is...) No flames please? Thanks, you guys are the best. Okay then, that's all I have to say. Hope you enjoyed :) R&R!**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Hey, guys. You should all be excited because this chapter is where Zach officially enters the story. So, for all of you intense Zammie shippers, here you go. **

**And sure, Megs, I'll be your editor and you can be mine :)**

**I'm gonna stop blabbering now and let you guys continue on...**

**Disclaimer: **All the Gallagher Girl's characters rightfully belong to Ally Carter.

* * *

**Chapter 4**

Cammie ran towards the cafeteria as fast as she could. She stopped at the door and pounded on it. "Open up, it's Cammie!"

"Password?" A man's voice drifted out through the crack underneath the door. Cammie rolled her eyes at this, but such restrictions were needed. "Alpha 1-2-3," she rattled off. There were two passwords. One was the one Cammie had said and the other was "Omega 3-2-1." "Alpha 1-2-3" meant that you were by yourself and "Omega 3-2-1" meant that the enemy was forcing you to open the door.

Cammie heard a couple of grunts and the sound of heavy furniture hitting the ground. Finally, the door slid open, and Cammie slipped inside. She helped the a few villagers push the heavy furniture back into place so they blocked the door. She turned and faced them, letting out a sigh of relief. There were at least two hundred villagers crowded together in the cafeteria.

"All right, listen up," Cammie called out. "Who's in charge here?"

Three men came forward. "We are."

"Good," Cammie nodded. "Now, Joe left me with strict instructions. We are to remain silent until we hear the all clear signal from him. Meanwhile, you can idle about, but make sure you are silent," Cammie reminded the crowd. There were murmurs of agreement and Cammie sat down in a chair. She sat there, thinking about Josh and how Joe had betrayed them. She looked around the room, where she saw women clutching their children with worried expressions. She saw the elderly resting on little cots. Cammie sighed to herself and mentally cursed the Outlanders for bringing this burden on them.

Suddenly, Cammie heard a shout and a sound of a gunshot. Her head jerked up. The sound had come from outside. Glancing around the room, she saw that nobody had even heard the sound. She stood up, just as another gunshot fired. This time, most villagers had heard the noise. The children started whimpering, and Cammie turned towards them and signaled for everyone to be deadly quiet. She crept up close to the door and cocked her gun, aiming it at the entrance.

Just then, a villager inside the building started yelling loudly. "In here! We're in here!"

Cammie turned to him in frustration and walked over quickly. She took her gun and hit it across his head. The man fell to the ground unconscious. _Who in the world was that guy?_ In fact, Cammie never recalled seeing him around in the village. _Is he also a Outlander, like Joe?_

Cammie heard a couple of gasps and glanced worriedly to the door. The Outlanders had no doubt heard the noise. She advanced towards the door and heard a thump. A large dent appeared on the steel door. It was as if someone was punching the door from the outside. Cammie stared at the it, horrified.

"Everybody, behind me!" she yelled out. Another dent appeared at the door. And another. And another. Until finally, the door broke down, and the furniture barricaded against the door was knocked to the ground. Standing at the entrance, was the tiger-man.

Cammie drew in a sharp breath and lifted her gun up to her shoulder level. She started firing. Once, twice, three times. Again and again she let bullets fly. But the man did not get hurt. Instead he advanced on her. Some of the villagers were screaming and trying to escape through another entrance.

Cammie threw her empty gun to the ground and pulled out her knife. She grinned grimly and the tiger-man and took her fighting stance.

"Trust me, you don't want to do that," the tiger-man spoke from beneath the mask.

"Do I?" Cammie asked and swiped her knife at the man's face. The man ducked and punched her in the gut. Cammie gasped in pain. It was as if someone had stuck a hot blade into her stomach and was twisting it around. She dropped the dagger and it clanged to the floor loudly.

The man pulled his fist away and Cammie fell to her knees. She put her hand to her stomach and when she pulled it away, it was red with blood. _What was the man's fist made out of?! _ She gingerly raised her head and saw ten little gleaming spikes sticking out of the glove on the man's hand. Each spike had little red dots on the tips. Cammie doubled over, and started coughing up blood. She slumped to the floor and felt like she was dying. _This is it,_ she thought.

And then, all of a sudden, Cammie was lifted off the ground. She wasn't sure if she was imagining things, but she distinctively remembered the tiger-man walking out of the room with her in his arms. She also remembered the tiger-man telling her to "hold on" and that she would "be safe soon." The very last thing she remembered was staring up into a pair of brilliant emerald green eyes before falling unconscious in a world of darkness.

* * *

_The wind blew steadily, rustling the leaves on the ground. Cammie stood atop a hill that overlooked into a valley. In the valley was a cemetery. Cammie shuddered and tried to turn away, but somehow she couldn't. Her feet started to move, taking steps towards the lawn filled with grey headstones. As she neared closer, she could make out some of the names on the gravestones. They all had the same death year carved onto them. 1999. The same year the first Outlanders attacked Gallagher. The same year that both her parents… well, you know. This was where Gallagher buried the dead villagers._

_All of a sudden, her feet stopped moving and Cammie realized she was standing in front of a gravestone. Two gravestones, to be exact. Cammie stared at the names on the them. _**Matthew Andrew Morgan**_, the left gravestone read. The right gravestone had _**Rachel Morgan**_ on it. Cammie had visited her parent's grave many times before, but those visits had never been as dark and eerie as this one._

_Just then, Cammie heard a shout. She whirled around and gasped at what she saw. It was a man, with a fierce look in his eyes. He was wrestling another burly man with an animal mask, an Outlander. _

_"Dad," Cammie called out softly. _

_He was just the way she remembered him. Tall, with sort blonde hair and blue eyes. Those eyes used to be full of happiness and love. Right now they were as cold as ice. _

_Cammie's dad had beaten up the Outlander, and was staring down at his unconscious state with a look of satisfaction. Cammie wanted to run to him. Run to him and hug him, and say how much she missed him. She started walking towards him, quickly with a grin on her face. She wrapped her arms around his body. He turned to her in a look of surprise. Then the look turned into something else. Pain. Anguish. _

_Cammie's dad cried out suddenly, and clutched his side. He stumbled backwards, away from Cammie and looked at her in disbelief. Cammie stared at him, wondering what was going on. She looked at where his hand pressed against his body, and saw that blood was seeping through his fingers, like a waterfall._

_"Dad?!" she asked worriedly. _

_Her dad fell to his knees and Cammie rushed up to him. "Dad, what's wrong?" But her dad only crawled a little away from her. And then he stopped, and stayed absolutely still. _

_"Dad!" Cammie screamed and pressed her fingers to his neck to check for a pulse. Nothing. _

_"No," Cammie whispered. "Come back, Dad. Please come back." It was only then did she feel something cold and metallic in her hand. She glanced down and noticed a gleaming silver dagger in her palm. Cammie dropped it in shock and let out a cry of alarm when she realized it was covered in red blood. "No!" she screamed. "Dad, it wasn't me! I swear!" Cammie stood up and ran away from her dad's body, sobbing tremendously, her whole body shaking. She ran and ran; even when her body was bone tired. _

_Suddenly, she bumped into someone. Cammie stepped back, and looked up to see a woman standing over her. The woman was beautiful, with dark hair and hazel eyes. Cammie knew immediately who she was. _

_"Hey kiddo," the lady reached out to caress Cammie's cheek._

_Cammie stepped back and shook her head. "No, please. Get away from me."_

_"What's wrong?" the lady frowned. "Aren't you glad to see your mother?"_

_"Get away from me," Cammie whispered. "You don't understand."_

_"Oh, come-" The lady's eyes flew wide open. She glanced down feverishly towards her stomach, where a red stain was spreading quickly. "Cammie," she whispered. "Help me." And then she crumpled forward._

_Cammie gasped and took a few steps backward. Standing behind her mother was Josh, who was grinning wickedly. _

_"Hey there, sweetie," he chuckled. "Surprised?"_

_Cammie's eyes fell on the dagger in Josh's hands, identical to the one that was in her hand a few minutes ago._

_"You have no idea what you're capable of, Cammie," Josh spoke. "No idea at all."_

_Cammie screamed as Josh and her mother faded into darkness._

* * *

Cammie sat up straight, breathing heavily. Sweat dotted her forehead.

"It was just a dream," she whispered to herself. "Nothing more than a stupid nightmare." As she calmed down, she thought about how long it had been since she had dreamed about her parents. Almost 14 years.

Throwing off the covers, Cammie slipped off of the bed. It was when her feet touched the ground she realized that she wasn't in her apartment anymore. She was in a small room with gray walls and no windows. Other than a bed, dresser, full length mirror, and a carpet on the floor, there was no other furniture in the room.

Cammie glanced down at herself and saw that she was still wearing the same clothes as before. She looked up and noticed that there were two doors in the room. Cammie assumed that first one was the exit, and walked towards the second door and opened it. Inside was a bathroom. There was a neatly folded stack of towels and some soap for her to use. Stripping off her clothes, she stepped into the small shower stall.

The hot water made Cammie feel more relaxed. She did her best to get rid of the dirt and grime on her skin. After she was done with her shower, she wrapped herself with a towel and pulled on some clothes from the dresser. Her shoes were on the floor next to the bed. She changed and walked over to the mirror. Cammie stared at herself. Her figure had grown skinnier over the past few days. She had curves that could barely be seen, and her hair was starting to turn into stringy strands with split ends.

Just then, the door opened. Standing at the doorway, was Joe. "Hey there," he smiled at her. He entered the room and closed the door behind him quickly before Cammie could see what was outside.

"Joe," Cammie walked towards him. "What happened? Where am I?"

Joe's smile faded. "Listen carefully," he started. "I need tell you something very important."

"I was attacked," Cammie recalled. "Someone…an Outlander…started to fight me. And I went unconscious. And that guy picked me up and took me somewhere."

"I know," Joe said quietly. "That guy works for me."

"What?" Cammie asked. "Joe, you're not making any sense."

"I know I'm not," Joe said. "But all will make sense soon. I promise." He walked towards the door and placed his hand on the doorknob. "Follow me," he said.

Cammie hesitated for a second. How was she supposed to trust this man? He had been a Outlander, after all. Nevertheless, she walked towards him and followed him out the door.

Joe and Cammie had entered a dark hallway. Cammie figured she wasn't in Gallagher anymore. So where was she? She followed Joe down the corridor, and made a right turn. This new corridor seemed to be the main hallway. There were people walking through it, holding official looking documents. The people all snuck glances at Cammie. Cammie stiffened and hurried to keep up with Joe.

Joe abruptly stopped at a doorway and pushed it open. Cammie reluctantly followed him inside. There was a large table with a screen on the top. The same screen was up against a wall. Cammie had seen this technology before. The same equipment was in every watch tower in the village. How these people had acquired it, Cammie had no idea.

Surrounding the table were six people. They all seemed to be around Cammie's age. Three girls and three boys. The three girls stood next to each other, giving Cammie small glances of curiosity.

The first girl was small and seriously skinny. She had blonde hair and kind warm eyes. The girl standing next to her had glowing cappuccino skin and dark hair. Her caramel eyes shone fiercely, and she looked like an Egyptian goddess. Next to her was girl wearing high-end clothes, had a diamond nose stud at least a carat and a half, and thick, shiny black hair as well as very bright blue eyes. She had probably seen many drooling guys in her life before.

The boys standing next to the three boys looked at Cammie with stares sparked with interest. The first boy had sandy blonde hair and blue eyes. He was very buff and had sparkling white teeth. The next boy was considerably smaller in size, and had a dark buzz cut. He awkwardly pushed his glasses up his nose every few seconds.

Cammie turned to the last boy, and her eyes widened. _That boy…._she wondered. _The tiger masked man. _The boy gave her a smirk and Cammie narrowed her eyes at him. He had dark hair that was slightly messy and green eyes. The same green eyes that had stared down at her when he had lifted her up into his arms.

"Cammie," Joe cleared his throat. "These are my….students."

The girl with cappuccino skin raised her eyebrow. "Students?" she asked in a British accent.

"I know you!" Cammie burst out. "You were there when…" her voice trailed off.

The girl grinned at her and stepped forward. "When I tricked you into thinking that we didn't know you were hiding behind that waterfall?" The girl chuckled. "Name's Bex," she stuck out a hand and Cammie shook it, looking impressed.

"And this is Liz," Bex indicated to the skinny blonde girl, "and Macey," she gestured to the girl who looked like a model.

"And I'm Grant," the blonde boy piped up. "And these here are my bros Jonas," he patted the boy with the glasses on the back, "and-"

"Zach," the tiger masked man interrupted. "Nice to meet you, Cammie."

"Nice to meet you, too," Cammie blushed furiously, not knowing why.

"Ok, then," Joe spoke up from beside Cammie. For a moment, she forgot that Joe was still standing next to her. "Now that we've got the introductions out of the way…" he looked down at Cammie. "I guess I can-"

"Wait," Cammie interrupted. "Where's Josh?"

Joe lowered his eyes.

"Well?" Cammie demanded.

"I'm so sorry Cammie," Liz said softly.

"He's…dead?" Cammie whispered in disbelief. "Who killed him?"

Bex shook her head sadly. "The droids."

"The droids?" Cammie asked. "But we told them to kill Outlanders, not civilians," she looked at Joe. "How could this have happened?"

"I don't know," Joe said tiredly. "I'm sorry, Cammie."

"Why am I even here?" Cammie looked around the room. "I mean, you guys are all Outlanders, right? For all I know, you could kill me any second now."

"You're right," Macey spoke up with a smirk. "That is something we're capable of doing."

"Why don't you sit down?" Joe ignored Macey's comment and steered Cammie to one of the chairs in the room. "I'll explain everything."

**A/N: So many of you guys are probably really confused right now. Like why is Joe an Outlander? What do Zach, Bex, Grant, Liz, Jonas, and Macey have to do with this whole story? And why did the droids kill Josh? Oh, and if you guys are kinda confused about the whole droid thing, just picture the droids from the movie Oblivion. You know, the little robots shaped like balls that fly around and shoot people? That's kinda how I imagine them to look like in this story. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I swear that (mostly) everything will be revealed in the next chapter. Oh, and part of the next chapter is in Zach's POV!**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Hey guys, I'm back. I'm on break the entire week, so I'll try to update a chapter a day or something. Just trying to keep you hooked, that's all :p**

**You guys had a couple of questions, so I'm just gonna clarify some things. First things first, Cammie's dream. That was just a nightmare she had about her parents' death. I'm not saying that that was how her parents died in real life. That was just one interpretation. And yes, the dream does have a significance to the plot of this story. The part where Josh was standing over Rachel's body is also really important. And the fact that Cammie and Josh both had the same knives in their hands. So just try to keep that in mind, okay? Anyways, here's the next chapter in Zach's POV, as promised :)**

**Disclaimer: **Owning the Gallagher Girls characters would be awesome and all, but I don't, so yeah...

* * *

**Chapter 5**

**Zach's POV**

**One week earlier...**

Zach sat in his apartment room with one arm draped over the side of his couch. The sun was just rising over the horizon. The TV was on, with a police drama blaring through the speakers. Zach stared absentmindedly at the screen as an officer interrogated a suspect. _This is so stupid, _he rolled his eyes. _It was obviously the detective's wife that killed that victim._

Just then, his earpiece buzzed. He tapped his ear to turn it on. "Yeah?" he answered.

"It's me," Joe's voice crackled with static into his ear. "I have a new mission for you guys."

And just like that, Zach was onto his feet. _A new mission_, he thought excitedly. His mind began to race with anticipation. "I'm listening."

"Get the others, and I'll send some files with the descriptions. Ask Liz and Jonas to run through the procedures after that." Joe replied.

"On it," Zach threw on his jacket and shoes and exited his apartment.

"I don't have time to explain it all now," Joe said as Zach walked down the hall. "I'll I can say is that it's time." He clicked off.

Zach froze. _It's time._ Ever since Zach was old enough to run missions, Joe had told him that one day, when his daughter was old enough, Joe would need Zach's help getting her out of Gallagher without her knowing that Joe was an Outlander. And when that day came, Joe would tell Zach, "it's time." Zach remembered her name. Cameron. Or did she go by Cammie? He wasn't sure. All Zach had seen was a couple of pictures of her, but he had never met her in person.

Zach hurried to Grant's room. He knocked on the door many times, but there was no answer from the other side. He tried the handle and was surprised to see that it turned easily in his hand. He pushed the door open and walked inside. The lights were off, but Zach knew that Grant was probably still asleep.

"Grant!" he called, and walked into his bedroom. Sure enough, Grant was asleep, but he wasn't the only one. Tangled under the covers was Bex, soundly sleeping next to Grant. Zach rolled his eyes and flicked the lights on.

Grant groaned and put a hand over his eyes. "What's the big idea?" He sat up and his eyes widened and his face turned red when he saw Zach. "Oh crap," He put his hand out and shook Bex until she was awake.

"Get your bloody hand off of me," Bex grumbled. She rolled over and squinted. "Is that you, Zach?"

"Joe wants us to go over the new mission," Zach said.

"New mission?" Grant echoed. He stumbled out of bed and pulled on a shirt. "I'm coming."

Zach nodded. "Oh, and Grant?" he asked. "I suggest that you start being less conscious about your relationship and handle it like Bex." he smirked and walked out of the room.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Grant called after him.

Zach just shook his head and left the apartment. He called Jonas on his mike. "Jonas, time to wake up. Joe sent us some files about a new mission." He heard Jonas mumble a tired "yes" and his mike crackled as Jonas yawned.

By the time Zach reached the room where the group usually met, Liz and Jonas had turned on the computers and were going through the documents.

"Good morning, Zach," Liz smiled sweetly as Zach walked in. "We were just reading the overview for the mission."

"What does it say?" Zach asked.

"Just some stuff about Gallagher's layout. There's a couple of blueprints in here too," Jonas replied. "I'll pull up some images."

Grant and Bex walked into the room. Bex stopped short once she saw the rest of the gang. "Wait, where's Macey?"

Grant groaned. "Great…."

"Liz, why don't you call her?" Jonas suggested. "No one can get mad at you." This was true. There was no way in the entire world to not be able to forgive Liz if you were mad at her. Liz stepped out of the room and Jonas continued working on the files that Joe sent.

Zach's earpiece buzzed and he clicked it on. "Joe?" he asked.

"Yep," Joe replied solemnly. "Put me on speaker."

Zach placed his earpiece on a small portable speaker on Jonas's desk. The speaker was designed to amplify any sound from the object placed on it. It was created by Jonas himself. "There you go."

"Good, is everyone there?" Joe asked.

"Now they are," Macey walked into the room, the sound of her heels ricocheted off of the walls. Liz followed timidly and took her spot next to Jonas. "Next time you guys decide to interrupt my mani-pedi time, you will all receive personal death threats from me. Except Liz," Macey scowled.

"Anyways," Joe continued. "This is very important, so listen up. I'm going to send all of you on a rescue mission."

"Who are we rescuing?" Grant asked.

"My daughter," Joe replied. "You guys know her; Cammie."

"So we just go in and get her out?" Macey asked.

"Not exactly," Joe said. "There's another part of the mission as well," he paused. "I need you guys to destroy Gallagher."

Zach sucked in a sharp breath. The others looked surprised too.

"Destroy the village? Joe, I know that we're Outlanders and all," Bex frowned. "but Gallagher is your home."

"I know," Joe replied. "All the better reason to get rid of it. We need to stop the Circle from killing off all these humans. In fact, I'm surprised Catherine hasn't even killed me yet. I'm the only person standing in her way of what she wants. She's after Cammie, and we need to get her out of there before Catherine does something dangerous."

Zach's mood darkened. Of course it was his mother that was after Cammie. Of course he was the son of the crazy psychopathic maniac that wanted the future of the human society to be exactly her way. The others glanced cautiously at him, to make sure he wouldn't explode in rage.

"What do we have to do?" Macey asked, breaking the tension.

"I want you guys to assemble all your best soldiers," Joe said. "I need an Outlander army by the time you attack, which will be next week, at half past noon. As the leader of Gallagher, it will be suspicious if I don't request for any droids from the _Cavan_, so train your soldiers well enough to fight a couple of machines. When you guys arrive at Gallagher, I want you to be positioned beyond the watch towers. I need you to be camouflaged with the forest, so none of the guards spot any of you. Wear your masks. We'll be talking through earpieces."

"Before you attack the village, get rid of the soldiers in the watch towers. I don't want any calls coming in from there saying that there are Outlanders located outside the village. You cannot let the guards see you. Surround the perimeter, but keep the east entrance open. That will be your escape route. Attack when I tell you too. When you start fighting, none of the civilians should be killed. Just a bullet in the legs, all right? And I don't want any casualties on your side. If it's on my side, that's okay."

"Now, here's the important part," Joe paused. "Zach, when you guys attack, I will send Cammie to the cafeteria. I want you to go inside the village while the others are battling and make your way to the cafeteria. The door will be barricaded, so you will have to bust it down. Once you're in, get Cammie out of there. Again, don't hurt any of the civilians. Take Cammie and inject her with something that will knock her out. Something strong, but make sure she doesn't stay unconscious for too long. Liz can handle that stuff. Once she's unconscious, take her back to the base. The rest of you guys will leave once the village is destroyed. I'll follow you after a couple of hours, got it?"

"Yeah," the gang replied in unison.

"Jonas, can you pull up some of the pictures I sent of Cammie?" Joe asked.

"Sure," Jonas clicked a few button and a couple of images of a girl popped up. In one picture, she was smiling widely and was standing in front of a big tall building. Zach stared at her face. Cammie was a beautiful girl with long dishwater blonde hair and sparkling blue eyes. Her picture made him feel so peaceful and happy.

Grant wolf whistled and Bex smacked him in the arm.

"She's very pretty," Liz complimented.

Zach averted his eyes from the first picture and moved to the second one. Here she was standing in the middle of two people. One was Joe, and the other was a boy her age with dark hair and blue eyes. "Who's the dreamboat?" Zach asked with a twinge of jealously in his voice.

"That's Josh, Cammie's boyfriend," Joe replied. "I want one of you guys to knock him unconscious as well and bring him with you."

"Aye, aye, captain," Jonas nodded.

"All right then," Joe said. "Get to work."

* * *

The gang spent the next few days training the cadets at the Outlander base to fight well. The soldiers spent hour after hour learning different techniques in punching, kicking, and all that good stuff. Zach would return to his apartment late at night, exhausted, but excited at the same time. He felt that there was something different about this mission. Zach also felt different too. He felt all tingly inside whenever someone started talking about Cammie. Whenever he slept, Zach would have dreams of her. Zach hadn't even met her, so he didn't know what was going on.

Finally, after six days of physical training, Zach lay on his bed in his apartment, talking to Joe about the mission.

"You know, I just realized this," Joe said. "When you go to the cafeteria to get Cammie, she may put up a fight with you."

"What's wrong with that?" Zach asked.

"Don't underestimate Cammie," Joe chuckled. "She's fiercer than she looks. If she starts to fight you, just go your hardest and knock her out quick, all right?"

"I'll keep that in mind," Zach smiled to himself. Cammie was a total knockout. She was pretty and she could fight well.

"Zach," Joe started. Zach knew that tone. It meant that Joe was going to become all serious. "Good luck out there, okay?"

"Don't worry," Zach smirked. "I won't need it."

* * *

"Is everyone ready?" Grant yelled to the crowd of cadets waiting to get out on the battlefield.

The crowd cheered and lifted their guns in the air.

"I can't hear you!" Grant shouted. The crowd roared even louder this time and Zach grinned as the adrenaline flowed through him.

"That's what I'm talking about!" Grant pumped a fist in the air. "Let's move."

The soldiers piled into small planes and flew towards Gallagher. After about an hour, the plane landed and the soldiers piled off. Jonas and Liz would stay on each plane while the others would lead the soldiers to Gallagher.

The group started walking through the forest. They moved swiftly and silently, being careful not to attract any attention. Right now, the Outlanders were about a mile and a half from Gallagher. Zach glanced around and saw Bex walking quietly beside Grant and Macey. He looked down at his watch and saw that it was a quarter until noon. He told all the soldiers to put on their masks. Every soldier in the Outlander army had a mask the shape of an animal. Zach's was a tiger.

As the gang kept walking, Zach's earpiece suddenly buzzed. "Joe?" he asked. He looked at the other and judging from their expressions, they had received the call as well.

Macey motioned for the other soldiers to stop moving forward.

"There's a problem." Joe said urgently. "I can't find Cammie."

"She's gone?" Bex asked.

"My guess is that she left the village with Josh," Joe replied. "I told her to come to the Council Room at noon, but I don't know if she'll listen."

"Do you want us to delay the attack?" Grant asked.

"No, no stick with the plan," Joe said. "Hopefully she'll turn up soon."

"Okay," Zach said. He couldn't help but worry though. Didn't Cammie know that it was dangerous staying out in the middle of the woods? _It was probably that Jimmy guy that made her go._

Zach turned and told the cadets that they could keep walking towards the village. As they neared Gallagher, the sound of rushing water could be heard. They had reached the lake that was half a mile away from Gallagher. He looked down at his watch. It was just about noon. "Hurry up guys! We can't be late!" he called out to the rest of the soldiers. They started to walk around the lake when Macey stopped suddenly. She pointed towards the waterfall and mouthed the words, "Cammie's in there."

Zach didn't know how Macey had seen Cammie behind the waterfall. He didn't care. All he cared about was getting Cammie back to the village so he could "kidnap" her. He gave Grant a meaningful look, silently telling him to go on with the act. Grant got the message and yelled out in a loud voice, "Sir! Wait!"

"What is it?" Zach said in an impatient voice. He slowly walked over to the lake and caught sight of a pair of blue eyes peering out from behind the waterfall. _Cammie_.

"The grass, it's wet," Grant continued with his act. "That can only mean one thing. Someone was splashing water around not too long ago. And they're probably still here since the grass isn't even close to dry."

"Search the area," Zach beckoned for Bex and Macey. "There's no place for them to hide." A couple of soldiers waded into the pond and stomped around, careful not to accidently look at the waterfall. If Zach wanted to scare Cammie back to Gallagher, the only way was to pretend that they hadn't seen her behind the waterfall.

After a while, Bex declared, "There's no one here."

"Then let's leave," Zach said, really meaning it. "Joe is expecting us, and he's expecting an attack in an hour or so." _There, that should do it_, Zach thought. No way was Cammie not going to go back to Gallagher after that statement.

The soldiers trudged on, and soon found themselves positioned beyond the watch towers, keeping an eye on the village. Grant sent some soldiers to go and make the guards up at the watch towers fall unconscious. Zach called Joe to tell them that they were in position. Joe reported that Cammie had come back to Gallagher and had fallen for the Outlander trap. Then, at exactly one o'clock, Zach looked at the other soldiers and nodded. They crept up to the gates of the village and barged in like a swarm of bees.

Zach left the crowd in search of the cafeteria. He looked at the GPS on his watch and followed the directions until he found himself in front of a big grey building. He used a large boulder to bust the door open and entered the building. Cammie stood there with her gun raised to his level. She looked so bold and fierce, standing there with the gun in her hand, that it took every muscle in Zach's body to refrain himself from going any closer to her.

"Everybody behind me!" Cammie yelled and took a step closer to Zach. The villagers behind her cowered in a corner. She started firing bullets, and Zach flinched as the bullets hit his bulletproof vest. He advanced on her and soon the bullets ran out in her gun. She threw it aside and drew a long silver dagger. Grinning smugly, Cammie took her fighting stance and held the dagger up.

_Oh crap,_ Zach thought. _She's got a knife. _"Trust me," he said, actually feeling a little worried for his safety. "You don't want to do that."

"Do I?" Cammie lunged for Zach's face and swiped her knife inches in front of his nose. Zach ducked instinctively and punched her in the gut. This was the part he hated the most. The black gloves he was wearing had little spikes on them that held a chemical that would knock someone out in a matter of seconds. Zach hated using this against Cammie, but Joe had insisted.

Cammie fell to her knees while gasping in pain. Zach reached his arms out worriedly and caught her from falling to the ground. Throwing off his mask, he lifted her up and held her in his arms. Zach murmured words of comfort into her ear. "It'll be okay. Everything will be just fine." Cammie was even more beautiful up close. Zach stared at her as she slowly slipped away, unconscious. Cammie looked so peaceful sleeping. Nevertheless, Zach hurried out of the room to take Cammie back to the base.

* * *

Zach was sitting on the plane with Grant, Bex, Macey, and Cammie. Liz and Jonas were sitting in the cock pilot, and Jonas was at the wheel. Zach couldn't help but steal glances at Cammie every now and then. She just seemed so breathtaking and angelic.

The plane touched down and the gang clambered out of the cabin. The soldiers were piling out of the other planes that had landed and were making their way back inside the base. The gang went inside and Liz went to fetch a gurney. They placed Cammie on it and wheeled her to the room where she would be staying. Zach stayed behind a little bit and claimed that he was just keeping an eye out for Cammie. Eventually, Joe showed up and came to Cammie's room. He wore a somber expression, and looked a little sad.

"What's wrong?" Zach asked as Joe sat down on one of the chairs in the room.

"Josh," Joe replied quietly. "He died in action."

"Did one of the soldiers kill him?" Zach began to ask, but Joe interrupted.

"No," he said. "It was a droid."

"What?" Zach asked, puzzled. "I thought droids only followed orders from..."

"The people in charge," Joe replied. "I may have been in charge at the moment, but it was really the Circle that were in charge of that droid."

"So, you're saying..." Zach trailed off.

"Yes," Joe replied. "The Circle killed Josh."

* * *

Zach had left Cammie's room a little after Joe arrived. Now, he was in the meeting room with the rest of the gang, waiting for Joe to come back with Cammie. The door opened and Joe walked in, followed by Cammie. Zach immediately straightened. Bex introduced the girls and when Grant was about to introduce Zach, he cut in and introduced himself. Cammie blushed when he spoke and murmured, "Nice to meet you, too." _Score!_ Zach thought excitedly.

The mood darkened when Cammie asked where Jimmy was. Joe replied truthfully, and Cammie started to accuse Joe for his death. All Zach could think was, _Why do you even care about that dreamboat anyway when_ I'm _standing here right in front of you?_

Joe made Cammie sit down in one of the chairs. As Cammie sat down, Joe said, "I guess I should start at the beginning."

"Maybe you should," Cammie said icily. _Wow, this girl's got some temper,_ Zach thought amusedly.

Joe winced a little at her coldness and Zach felt sort of bad for him. It wasn't every day you had to lie to your half daughter for your entire life.

"It starts back when your dad was alive," Joe began carefully.

Cammie's eyes widened a little, but she suppressed any other reaction.

"Do you know who Catherine Goode is?" Joe asked Cammie.

Zach stiffened. He knew where this was going. Joe glanced at him hesitantly.

"Zach, why don't you get out of here," Bex suddenly said. "It won't do you any good listening to this."

Zach nodded numbly and walked towards the door. As he passed Cammie, a pleasant fragrance drifted in front of him. It smelled of…strawberries. He lingered by the door for a second, but then pushed it open and left the room.

Bex was right. It wouldn't have done him any good listening to the story of his mother. Especially after what she did to Cammie's family. And what she planned to do Cammie. Zach vowed that he wouldn't let his mother lay a finger on Cammie. Not on his watch.

Zach walked down hall and stepped into an elevator on his right. The elevator took him to his room, and he fell onto his bed. All he thought about for the next hour or so was Cammie. Cammie's eyes, Cammie's skin, Cammie's hair. He even went as far as imagining her lips on his. He wondered what they would taste like... Well, there was only one way to find out.

**A/N: Wow, that was a long one. I just wanted to recap what happened with Zach before the attack and kinda explain things a little. I hope you enjoyed that, though. I included a tiny bit of Zammie (if Zach's thoughts on Cammie counts as Zammie), for your guy's sake. And I love reading your reviews, so remember to do that :) Okay, then Ill see you guys later.**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Hey, everyone. I have a new chapter for you guys :) The first part has a lot information about why the Circle is bad (as Katniss979-Goode-Morgan guessed :p), so you'll have to read that thoroughly. It might be a little far fetched, so sorry about that. But, before you guys go on and start reading, I just wanted to say that Colleen and Katniss979-Goode-Morgan are THE BEST! They're just, like, amazing! Thank you so much for being there every chapter and just being awesome. You guys rock XD. Anyways...**

**Disclaimer: **I'm kinda getting really tired of these, but for everyone else that cares so much, I don't own the Gallagher Girls characters.

**Oh yeah, and this chapter is back to Cammie's POV, sorry :(**

* * *

**Chapter 6**

After Zach left, Cammie focused her attention back on Joe. He cleared his throat and spoke again. "So, as I was saying. Do you know who Catherine Goode is?"

Cammie nodded. "She's the leader of the Circle of Cavan." As a matter of fact, Cammie had heard her name before a thousand times. Her picture was everywhere around the village. Whenever she made a speech, Cammie would sit at home with Josh and watch her on the TV. Catherine had fiery red hair and a beautiful face. Her green eyes made her expression seem all serious and business like. _Come to think of it,_ Cammie thought. _Her eyes sort of remind me of Zach's eyes._

Joe nodded. "Yes, you're right. You've seen her on TV before, haven't you?" He paused. "What I need you to hear is the true story of Catherine and how exactly she became leader of the village."

Cammie raised an eyebrow. "How is this going to explain anything-" she began.

"Just listen," Joe cut in sternly. Cammie closed her mouth and leaned back in her chair, allowing Joe to begin.

"You know that your parents and I were all raised in Gallagher," Joe started. "Back then, Gallagher was only one village, with thousands of people. Catherine was one of the children our age. But none of the kids in the village payed much attention to her. Even when school was in session, Catherine would never show up. She would spend hours away in her room, doing who knows what. She would never show up to play with the other children, or go to parties. Sometimes we wouldn't even see her face for a day or two. No one had any idea what was happening."

"As we started getting older, different competitions and events were held in our village to test the children's minds. Everyone suspected that your dad would win all of them, of course, but surprisingly, it was Catherine. She won all the competitions. Academical, physical, mental, everything. We had no idea how she was doing it. Catherine seemed like the least likely person to win. Then, one day, Rachel...er... your mother, snuck into Catherine's room to see what she did in there, tucked away from everyone else. She found a horrifying sight. Catherine had vials and bottles of chemicals all around her room. She also found several needles there as well. Catherine had been injecting her self with all types of poisons and toxins."

"What?" Cammie stared at Joe. "Why would she do that?"

"You'll see," Macey spoke up. "Unfortunately, Catherine caught your mother in her room. She confronted Catherine about the poisons. Catherine responded that she hated the nature of humans. That humans would just ruin the world and never get anywhere in life. So, she wanted to make a better type of human. One that was faster, stronger, smarter, and more clever. She had made the formula, and all she needed was a subject to test it out on. So she tried it on herself. Sure enough, she had gotten immediate results. Then came the bad part..."

_Where is this story even going?_ Cammie thought to herself. _I don't even believe any word she's saying. _

"Catherine started attacking Rachel, using her new 'powers.' Your mother was a very strong woman, but Catherine easily overpowered her.. So, your mother called for help and the and some people came in and tied Catherine up. They knew that Catherine was a dangerous person, and could easily kill someone," Macey finished.

"She was ruthless, Cammie; you've gotta believe that," Grant put in. "Catherine even admitted into murdering her own paretns!"

_She killed her own parents? _Cammie thought in disbelief.

"Anyways, Matt decided to banish her from Gallagher," Joe continued. "Catherine, being the cunning person that she is, promised not to hurt the human civilization in only one condition."

"What?" Cammie asked, not really sure she wanted to know.

"That she became ruler of every human being on Earth. Ultimately, people agreed. So off Catherine went. She had a bunch of her followers build the _Cavan, _and soon, there was a big floating ship in the sky. Catherine started making her own rules. For example, there were to be several villages instead of one. And that her most loyal followers were to be called the Circle of Cavan. And that droids would now serve as the military reinforcements. And lastly, no one was allowed to come to _Cavan_. After the village was divided, people went about their normal lives. Your parents got married and Matt became the leader of Gallagher."

"Then, one day, Catherine made a new rule. All of the villages' food would be delivered from _Cavan_," Joe paused.

"Wait, what?" Cammie asked in disbelief. "The food we eat everyday is from _Cavan_?"

This time, Bex shook her head and said. "Let me explain. When Catherine made that rule, everyone was a bit suspicious. The food started arriving every morning, and your father and the other leaders were ordered to give it to their villagers. Your father ran a few tests on the food just to make sure nothing was wrong with it, and he found something interesting. The food contained some sort of unidentified substance. Your father made sure that your mum and Joe, and some of the other council officials didn't eat anything. Your father noticed that his villagers had started to change after eating _Cavan's_ food. They started to speak good things about Catherine, and started following her orders more efficiently. It was very peculiar. Your father decided to take action, and formed a group of people that were against Catherine's ideas."

"Outlanders," Cammie said softly. "My father...he was the first Outlander?"

Liz nodded. "People started joining him, and soon we started to destroy the villages one by one. Catherine found out, and boy was she mad. She wanted all Outlanders hunted down and killed. But, she had no idea that your father was in charge of the Outlander group. The villagers followed Catherine's orders, and your parents and Joe had to pretend they did too," Liz paused. "Which is why Joe acted as if he hated Outlanders in front of you."

Cammie took a moment to let the information sink in. "So what you're saying," she began slowly. "Is that the Outlanders are the good guys, and the Circle are the bad guys?"

"Yes," Joe nodded. "When your parents died, Matt made me promise that I would take care of you like he would have wanted. So I made sure that you didn't eat anything from _Cavan_."

"What about Josh?" Cammie asked thoughtfully.

Joe lowered his eyes. "Matt just gave me the job of protecting you. Plus, I didn't have enough food to give-"

"You let Josh die at the hands of Catherine!" Cammie stared at Joe in anger. "I cared about him, he was-"

"I know!" Joe said harshly. "Would you give it a rest?! Josh is gone, okay? He's dead. When someone dies around here, we just move on with our lives. Sometimes, Cammie, you just gotta learn to live with sacrifices." He stood up and stormed out of the room.

Cammie sighed, frustrated and leaned back into her chair. She felt so tired and all this information was making her mind buzz with even more questions.

"C'mon."

Cammie looked up to see Macey, Bex, and Liz all smiling down at her. "We'll show you around," Liz smiled sweetly.

Cammie nodded and stood up. She followed the girls out of the room. They walked down the hallway and onto a small walkway that was raised high into the air, sort of like a bridge.

"Welcome to the operating base of Outlanders," Bex grinned and spread her arms wide.

Cammie looked around her. There were tons of people working and bustling about. There were many rooms surrounding the girls. Some rooms held people who were operating computers, or working in science labs and some rooms held soldiers who were doing military training.

"What do you call this place?" Cammie asked in wonder.

"Oh, this dump?" Macey scoffed. "Joe decided to call it Blackthorne."

* * *

"Blackthorne," Cammie tested out the word on her lips. She turned to the other girls. "How long have you guys stayed in here?"

"All our lives," Bex replied earnestly. "Our parents all went to Gallagher, and when they died, Joe decided to take us in."

"And you were raised here," Cammie finished. "Is it safe? I mean, has Catherine ever found out or-"

"If you're asking if she knows where this place is, then no, she doesn't," Macey interrupted. "The location is classified and top secret."

"Has Catherine ever tried searching for it?" Cammie asked.

"Oh, tons of times," Liz grinned. "But, she's never found it."

Cammie nodded in relief. "Why is Catherine after me?"

Bex shrugged. "It could be something personal; in between your family or something."

Cammie lowered her eyes. Of course it was something personal. _Why wouldn't it be?_ she thought sarcastically. _It's probably something stupid,_ she rolled her eyes. _Catherine probably was in love with Dad or something. _

"I'm going to go," Cammie spoke up. She stared at the three disappointed pairs of eyes looking back at her. "It's been a long day, and I kinda just need to be alone for a little bit."

"But don't you want to see the rest of Blackthorne?" Macey began.

"Macey!" Liz piped up. "I'm sure Cammie's very tired right now." She turned towards Cammie, "You go rest. We'll call you when it's time for dinner."

"See you later Cammie," Bex patted her back and gave Cammie a wavering smile.

Cammie nodded goodbye and turned away from the girls, hoping that she wouldn't get lost on her way back. She walked down the halls and took a couple of turns here and there. It was at least ten minutes later when Cammie realized that she was, in fact, lost. She looked around her and sighed when none of the rooms around her seemed familiar in any way. Most of the soldiers and other workers had gone back to their rooms, and the hallways were empty.

Just then Cammie heard a voice speak out from behind her. "Lost?"

Cammie whirled around and saw Zach leaning against one of the doors that fed into the rooms in the hallway. A smirk was plastered on his face and he did seem quite amused. _Darn that stupid smirk of his,_ Cammie thought angrily.

"No," Cammie frowned and crossed her arms. Then, she figured that there was no point in lying in front of Zach; he could see right through her. Cammie let her arms fall and scowled. "Maybe."

Zach chuckled. "C'mon." He reached behind him and twisted the knob of the door he was standing in front of. Pushing the door open, he stepped inside. "What are you waiting for?" he asked as Cammie stood there, not moving a foot.

"Is that your room?" she asked.

"Yeah...why?" he replied and raised an eyebrow.

"I'm not going in there with you," Cammie retorted.

Zach snorted. "Why, because you're afraid I'm gonna make you-"

Cammie's face turned red. "No!" she said quickly. "Please don't continue that sentence," she sighed. "And if you really think I'm scared, then you're wrong." She walked forward and entered Zach's room with a smug look on her face.

"Great," Zach smiled brightly. "I was beginning to think that you would stick with your stubborn little five year old side."

"I do not act like a five year old," Cammie replied hotly. She walked into his living room and sat down on his couch. She noticed then that his apartment seemed really...clean. Like he was expecting someone.

Zach shook his head and sat down in an arm chair opposite from her. "So," he began, rubbing his hands together.

"So," Cammie repeated, and looked at him pointedly. "Didn't you want to ask me something? You kinda invited me here yourself."

"Oh, I just asked you to see if you would say yes or not," Zach smiled sheepishly. Cammie rolled her eyes and leaned back into the cushions.

"So, Gallagher Girl," Zach said. "How's your day been going?"

"Gallagher Girl?" Cammie repeated. "That's, like, the worst nickname I have ever heard."

"Then you haven't officially met Grant yet," Zach smirked. _Again, really?_ Cammie thought. "He comes up with the worst nicknames," Zach continued. "Just wait until you seem him later."

For a moment, Cammie had blanked out. She had lost herself in Zach's green eyes. They were mesmerizing and Cammie found herself glancing at them from time to time.

Then she realized that Zach had been talking. _What were we talking about again? Oh yeah, nicknames._ "I'll keep that in mind," Cammie murmured, but was thinking how a nickname could possibly be worse than Gallagher Girl.

"Anyways, you didn't answer my question," Zach stood up and walked over to the couch Cammie was sitting in. "How's your day been going?"

"Awesome," Cammie sarcastically. "I was going about a normal day at Gallagher when suddenly Outlanders decide to attack the village, I get kidnapped and _punched in the stomach_, Joe reveals that he's really an Outlander, and I get bombarded with a crazy story about Joe's childhood when I'm still getting over the fact that I got beat up by YOU!" she finished.

"Yeah, sorry about that," Zach rubbed the back of his neck. "Boss's orders," he paused. "Um, so you know how Joe had started talking about Catherine Goode, right? What exactly did he say about her?" He leaned forward so that his face was a couple of inches away from Cammie's. Cammie stared at his eyes again, trying to look away, but failing.

"Um, just some stuff about her childhood and how she became the leader of the Circle and all," Cammie replied, puzzled. "Why, is there something else I need to know?"

"Oh, no, no," Zach shook his head. "I just wanted to...you know..." he trailed off and stared at the carpet.

"Yeah, of course...um," she stared desperately around the room, trying to think of something they could talk about. "Oh, hey, why did you leave the room earlier today when Joe asked me about Catherine?" she changed the subject.

"Well," Zach said. "I just get really emotional whenever I hear the story."

"You know that I don't believe a word you said, right?" Cammie asked.

Zach nodded tiredly. "Gallagher Girl," he began. He looked down at her face. "What do you want from me?"

"I..." Cammie stumbled with her words. "I want to understand you."

"Do you really?" Zach smiled at her. Cammie could feel his hot breath on her face. Her cheeks turned scarlet.

"I don't know," Cammie shook her head. "Maybe I just want to know that there's a reason why you hide from the others. Why you live the way you do. Like you're hiding from something...or someone."

"Do reasons matter when there's nothing that can be done to change things?" Zach leaned closer towards Cammie. Before she realized what was happening, Zach's lips were on hers. Cammie's eyes widened with surprise, but she kept silent. She focused on the way that his hands wove through her hair and how her bare skin burned when it met his skin. Zach kissed her hard and roughly, as if he was trying to take her all in at once. Cammie resisted the urge to breathe and willed herself to be in perfect sync with Zach. They sat there for a couple of minutes and Cammie felt as if she was in heaven.

Suddenly, Zach pulled away, panting wildly. Little beads of sweat dotted his forehead and he held a steady gaze at the floor.

"Zach," Cammie called out tentatively.

"Cammie, I..." Zach eyes couldn't meet Cammie's gaze. "I'm sorry."

She stepped back, unsure if she should say anything else. He didn't call her Gallagher Girl. Not even Cameron. Just _Cammie._ "No, I'm sorry," Cammie apologized. She stood up from her seat. "I shouldn't have been so forward...I-"

"Don't." Zach turned away from her as if he was embarrassed. "Cammie, I think...that you had better go."

"Go?" Cammie said, hurt. She blinked to prevent the tears from falling. "Zach I'm sorry that-"

"No," Zach said harshly. "God, Cammie. Please just leave. I can't have you here It's...not possible."

"Zach, please," Cammie began desperately, but Zach interrupted her again.

"No, Cammie." This time, Zach looked up at Cammie. His eyes were full of pain, sadness, and longing. "I'm begging you. Please, just get out of here."

_What on earth?_ Cammie thought. Her expression turned from sad and sympathetic to a look of hurt and rage. "Fine," she spat out. "If that's what you want." Cammie stormed out of the room and slammed the door behind her.

Cammie hurried down the hall and found herself standing in front of the door that led to her room. Great, she thought to herself. Why couldn't have just not gotten lost before? she thought angrily. Then I wouldn't have gotten into this mess. Cammie collapsed onto her bed without changing. When Liz came by her room to call her for dinner, Cammie told her that she didn't feel like eating anything. All she could think about was the kiss and Zach's words. _It's not possible. _Cammie cried herself to sleep, with the image of the kiss replaying over and over again inside her mind and haunting her dreams.

**A/N: So...how was it? Did you guys all start fangirling at that one moment? XD Anyways, I know it got kinda rocky at the end of the chapter, but don't worry, everything will go back to way it was. I want to make this story one where Zach is desperately trying to win Cammie's heart, but he doesn't know if it's worth it or not (because of the whole crazy psycho mother thing). So there's that and I'll try to update the next chapter soon, but I'm not sure 'cuz I've kinda fallen sick with this really bad sore throat thing. Doc says that it's a viral infection, and that it'll go away in a week, so my fingers are crossed. The next chapter will probably be about Cammie's life at Blackthorne. I'll throw in a couple of chapters about that, and then the real action will begin :) I'll see you during Chapter 7, bye!**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Hey guys, here's your next chapter. I'm trying to get a chapter or two in before school starts again and I get loaded with homework. Enjoy :)**

**Disclaimer: **All rights (except for plot & setting) belong to Ally Carter.

* * *

**Chapter 7**

Cammie woke up the next morning, forgetting about yesterday's events. She sat up and looked around the room. As the sight non-familiar walls of Cammie's new home settled in, all her memories came flooding back into her brain. The Outlander attack, Catherine's story, Zach's kiss. Cammie blushed at the last thought. She stepped out of bed and padded softly into the bathroom. She took a shower and found a pile of clothes in her dresser with a note on top. _Hope these fit ~Bex_, was scrawled on the paper. Cammie silently thanked Bex and slipped her clothes on. She knew that she would have to show up for breakfast, otherwise it would seem a little rude. So, Cammie left her apartment and walked down the hallway, asking a couple of soldiers on the way for directions.

The breakfast hall was apparently called the cafeteria, just like in Gallagher. It was a large room with scattered table and a long counter in the front of the room. Cammie entered and spotted Macey, Bex, Liz, Grant, and Jonas sitting at a table in the corner. Cammie walked over to the table and smiled as Grant saw her approaching.

"Camster!" he yelled and threw her arms around her. _Wow, Zach was right,_ Cammie thought. _Camster, seriously? _Cammie stood stiffly and didn't move until, finally, Grant stood back and ruffled her hair.

"Hey, Cammie. How was your sleep?" Liz asked.

"Fine," Cammie sat down at table. Her stomach started to rumble as she glanced at the food that was sitting on the table.

"Here, help yourself," Liz took a plate of pancakes and handed it to Cammie.

"Thank you. Oh and Bex, thanks for the clothes," Cammie smiled at her.

Bex waved her hand dismissively. "Anytime."

"Um, we're going to go now," Grant and Jonas stood up. "We'll be in the lab. And before I forger, Joe said that we are to meet in the conference room in an hour."

"'Kay," Liz waved to the boys as they left.

"Where is Joe, anyway?" Cammie asked the girls.

"Dunno," Bex answered. "He doesn't really show up for meals. You only really see him during meetings."

Cammie nodded and glanced at Macey who had been sitting quietly for the past few minutes. Macey leaned forward and looked at Cammie in the eye. "So," she said. "We didn't see you at all after we showed you around yesterday." She raised a questioning eyebrow. "Where were you?"

"Um," Cammie started. "In my room," she lied.

"The entire time?" Bex asked doubtfully.

"Yeah," Cammie said defensively. "What, where else would I go?"

"I know that look," Macey pointed a finger at Cammie's face. "You were at someone else's room last night. And, judging by the way you're acting," Macey chuckled. "I'd go ahead and say that it was Zach's."

"What?" Cammie sputtered. "Zach?" She faked an annoyed look. "C'mon, you know how immature Zach is."

"Please," Liz shook her head. "Don't ever try lying again. You're terrible at it."

Cammie scowled and sat back in her chair.

"So you don't deny being in Zach's room last night!" Macey said excitedly. Again, Cammie said nothing and only glared at Macey.

"Did you guys do anything?" Bex asked slowly.

"It was a perfectly normal night," Cammie assured the girls. "All Zach did was properly introduce himself."

Bex snorted. "Zach? Talking about himself? Yeah, I'd like to see that happen."

"As long as you didn't...you know," Macey lowered her voice. "_Do_ anything with him." Her eyes widened when she saw Cammie's cheeks turn red. "Oh my gosh! You did it!"

"Keep your voice down," Cammie hissed. "You can't tell anyone. And we did nothing that serious. It was literally a kiss that lasted a couple of minutes."

"Ok, fine, I promise I won't tell anyone," Macey smiled. "I knew you liked him though! I could tell by the way you were looking at him yesterday."

"Was it that obvious?" Cammie groaned.

"Oh don't worry," Liz patted Cammie's shoulder. "He likes you too. When you were unconcious, he stayed by your side 24/7."

"Really?" Cammie asked. "Huh. Well, it doesn't matter now. I'm pretty sure he hates me." She looked at the girls. "He shut me out yesterday."

"I can go punch him right now if you'd like," Bex started to stand, but Cammie stopped her. "It's OK."

"Don't worry, he'll blow over," Macey assured Cammie. "He's in his room right now if you want to talk it out..." she added slyly.

"No, I don't," Cammie said defiantly. "I think I'm over Zach now." She stood up and stared down at the other girls. "You wanna show me the rest of Blackthorne?"

"Sure," the girls replied in unison and walked out of the cafeteria with Cammie.

* * *

After walking around Blackthorne for at least an hour, Cammie had pretty much seen everything in the place. Her legs were beginning to get tired and yet Liz told here that there was still a lot to see in the building.

"Maybe you should meet some of the soldiers," Bex suggested.

"Okay," Cammie answered, hoping that this would be the last stop of the day.

The girls dragged Cammie to a small room, which was where all the girl soldiers stayed. As they entered, a collective hush fell throughout the room. Cammie stood timidly as fifty pairs of eyes stared back at her.

"Guys," Macey announced. "This is Cammie Morgan. She's new here, and she's Joe's daughter."

"Hi," Cammie gave a small wave.

Suddenly, the girls started talking excitedly and came to crowd around Cammie. Most of the girls were her age, if not younger.

"Hi! I'm Courtney Bauer!" one girl extended her hand out in the midst of all the pushing and shoving.

"Uh, nice to meet you, Courtney," Cammie smiled and shook her hand. She looked at Bex, Macey, Liz for help.

"Okay everybody! Get into a line!" Bex shouted. The girls immediately responded and formed into a straight line.

"Eva Alvarez," the girl at the front of the line gushed. "It's so cool to see you in person."

"Um, thanks?" The reply came out more like a question than a statement. Cammie had no idea that she was famous in Blackthorne.

The line continued with more girls with each girl telling Cammie how great it was to see her up close.

"OMG, it's really you! I'm Kim Lee!"

"I'm Anna Fetterman. Cammie, wait, can I call you that? Okay, Cammie, I just want you to know that you're awesome!"

"'Sup, Mick Morrison. I think that i's pretty rad you're here today!"

_This is getting weirder by the minute,_ Cammie thought to herself. Things started to get interesting when a girl with straight brown hair bounded up to her.

"Hi! I'm Tina Walters! I'm, like, your biggest fan! I've heard so much about you! You know, Joe always tells us all these stories about you when he's teaching our CoveOps class. That's short for Covert and Operations, by the way. Oh my gosh, I just taught Cammie Morgan something new! Isn't that like, so amazing?" the girls said all a rush.

"Uhh..." Cammie could only stare at the girl, bewildered. "Um, yeah, that's pretty amazing...I guess..."

"Great! Oh, but I wanted to ask you a quick question, before you leave," to Cammie's surprise, the girl pulled out a notepad and a pen. "Is is true that you hooked up with Zachary yesterday?"

"What?!" Cammie whirled around to face Macey who looked as shocked as she was. "Macey! I thought I told you-"

Macey immediately threw her hands up in the air. "It wasn't me! I swear!"

Cammie turned back towards Tina, who smiled innocently back at her. "Who gave you that idea?"

"Oh don't worry, it wasn't Macey. One of my sources saw you entering Zach's room last night," Tina assured Cammie.

"And that's supposed to make me feel better?" Cammie muttered under her breath. She sighed and said, "Look, I don't know what your source saw, but all I did in Zach's room last night was talk about..." Cammie desperately looked around the room for an idea. "Jackets!" she blurted out, spotting a pink jacket draped on a chair.

"Jackets?" Tina said slowly. "Interesting. So you're saying that the fact you were in Zach's room last night is true?"

"Yes, I am," Cammie said tiredly.

"Okay!" Tina snapped her notepad shut. "That's all I need. Thanks for your time, Cammie!" She handed Cammie a card. "If you need anything else, just give me a call," Tina pointed at the three numbers on the card. "That's the number for my earpiece." She gave Cammie one last hug and bounded away.

Cammie stood there, staring down at the card. Bex grabbed her hand and dragged her away from the girls' common room. "Okay, enough of that," Bex rolled her eyes. "Sorry that you had to meet Tina."

"That's okay," Cammie forced a smile. "Hey, is there actually any other adults here that teach besides Joe?"

"Of course!" Macey pulled Cammie towards a wall. There was a large poster hanging on it that had pictures of at least one hundred people. "These are all the teachers of Blackthorne."

"Nere are our teachers," Liz pointed to several photos. "Professor Smith, who teaches Countries of the World. Dr. Fibbs, who teaches Research and Development. He's my favorite teacher. Madame Dabney, who teaches Culture and Assimilation. Mr. Mosckowitz, who teaches Computing, Jonas's favorite teacher. Professor Buckingham, who teaches-"

"Wait a second!" Cammie peered closely at the photo. "That's Patricia!"

"Oh, so you know her?" Liz chirped.

"Know her?" Cammie replied. "She's one of Council Officials in Gallagher! Or...was one of the Council Officials."

Bex nodded. "That's not too surprising, considering that she's Joe's most trusted teacher."

"Wow," Cammie stood back. "Do you know where she is? Did she even survive the Outlander attack?"

"She made it," Bex nodded. "She was at dinner yesterday."

"We'd love to take you there," Macey was looking at her watch. "but we have to go the meeting room right now."

* * *

When the girls entered the meeting room, the only people inside were Grant, Jonas, and Joe. Joe smiled at Cammie as she walked in.

"Hey there," he ruffled Cammie's hair. "How are you? Sorry for losing my temper the other day."

Cammie nodded. "I'm fine. The girls were just showing me around the place. I got to meet some of the soldiers."

"That's nice," Joe glanced towards the door. "Hey, does anyone know where Zach is?"

"He's in his room, sir," Grant spoke up. "Hasn't come out since...yesterday."

Cammie looked at Macey, Bex, and Liz. "What did you do to him?" Macey whispered.

"Nothing!" Cammie whispered back. "If I knew that he was so emotional, I would have yelled at him more!"

Just then, the door opened and Zach entered the room. Cammie stood up straighter and watched silently as Zach walked over to Grant and Jonas. She shifted her eyes towards Joe, but could feel Zach's gaze burning down at her.

Joe cleared his throat. "This is going to be a short meeting. Now that we're all here," he said. "I'd like to go over the changes we will have to adapt to now that Cammie is part of this family."

He looked at Cammie. "First, you will have to start attending classes with Bex, Macey and Liz. You will receive separate instructions from your teachers since the rest of the class is ahead. Besides schoolwork, you're going to have to start your physical training," Joe paused. "You aren't going to learn with the other soldiers, but instead with someone else."

"Zach, I am appointing you as Cammie's personal trainer."

"What?!" Cammie and Zach both shouted.

Joe looked slightly surprised at their outburst. "Yes. Why, what's wrong?"

"Joe!" Cammie cried out desperately. "You can't make me train with this...this...jerk!" she sputtered.

"Guys," Joe explained calmly. "The more you tell me that you two can't work with each other, the more I am going to approve of my desicion." He looked around the room. "Meeting adjourned."

Zach stormed out of the room. Grant and Jonas worriedly followed. "We'll try and talk some sense into him," Grant assured Cammie.

Cammie plopped down in a chair and buried her face in her arms. Bex came over and rubbed her back.

"Oh, and Cammie?" Joe spoke out from the entrance. "Your training begins today."

**A/N: Was that okay? I know that there wasn't a lot of Zammie, but there will be more in the next chapter. See you guys then! Remember to review your thoughts! Bye :)**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: I'm back! So, you guys were all psyched to see what happens with Cammie and Zach as her new personal trainer. I have some Zammie stuff coming in for you guys, so enjoy :) Here's Chapter 8 :p**

**Disclaimer: **Let's just say that this story wouldn't have been on FF if I owned the Gallagher Girls series...

* * *

**Chapter 8**

Cammie sat on her bed and sulked as Bex, Liz, Macey tried to cheer her up.

"It won't be as bad as you think," Macey assured. "As long as you guys just focus on training while you're in there."

"Just sitting here isn't going to help anything," Bex said. "You need to keep your mind off of this matter."

"Are the boys at Blackthorne just generally mean?" Cammie looked desperately at Bex. "Was it this hard when you got together with Grant?"

"Grant?" Bex asked. "Who said I was with-"

"Oh please," Macey rolled her eyes. "Of course it wasn't as hard. Grant and Bex have the easiest relationship I have ever seen. Well, after Jonas and Liz anyway."

Liz blushed a deep scarlet as Macey sighed and chuckled, "Ah, nerd love."

"So is it just a phase or something?" Cammie wondered. "I mean, I never went through this with Josh..."

"No, it's just different with you and Zach."

"Different?" Cammie echoed. "Different how?"

"It's different because of Zach's moth-" Liz began to say, but Macey clamped a hand over her mouth just in time.

"What?" Cammie's eyes narrowed.

"Nothing," Macey smiled sheepishly. "Just the scientific stuff that Liz blurts out sometimes." She removed her hand from Liz's mouth.

"Something's going on here," Cammie stood up. "And I'm going to figure out what it is."

* * *

The girls stopped by the tailor shop to get Cammie's training suit. Cammie was amazed. _A tailor shop? Cool!_ It seemed as though Blackthorne had everything. Cammie took the clothing from the vendor and slipped it on. The suit was black and hugged Cammie's body tightly.

"How am I supposed to move in this?" Cammie asked as she tested out some moves.

"You'll get used to it," Liz explained. "It's designed to absorb the energy in your muscles and give you more power and momentum when you hit stuff."

"Impressive," Cammie looked down at her body. The suit made her seem more slender and showed off her curves. "Okay then," she took a deep breath. "Let's get this show on the road."

"Atta girl," Macey smiled appreciatively.

The girls walked towards the gym, where Cammie was supposed to start training. The building was empty when they entered, so Cammie took this time to learn a couple of techniques from Bex.

"Show me some stuff Joe taught you," Bex said.

"Sure." Cammie stepped onto the mat that was laid out on the floor and performed a series of punches and kicks. _Jab. Jab. Left uppercut. Right hook. Duck. Left hook. Jab. Jab. Right uppercut. Roundhouse Kick._ Cammie stood straight, breathing heavily.

"Your punches have no power," a voice spoke from the doorway. Cammie whirled around and saw Zach standing there with a duffel in one hand and a punching bag in the other. "And your roundhouse kick was inaccurate. If you want to perform this on a couple of Circle members, I suggest you sit out because you will get yourself killed."

Zach walked over to the bench where Bex, Macey and Liz were sitting and dumped his stuff next to their feet. "Morning, girls," he greeted. Bex stood up and whispered something to Zach that Cammie couldn't hear.

"What is wrong with you?" Bex hissed. "Be nice to her. She's still recovering from what you did to her yesterday."

"I know," Zach said in a low voice. "I'll explain everything to her today."

"You better," Macey spoke up. "Apologize to her. If she comes back from training worse than yesterday, you won't live to see the sun rise tomorrow." And with that, the three girls walked out of the gym. Bex gave Cammie a thumbs-up and disappeared, leaving Zach and Cammie alone.

"So," Cammie placed her hands on her hip. "Want to tell me how to improve my moves?"

Zach stared at her for a minute. "I know why you're giving me that look," he said finally. "You want me to apologize about yesterday in my room."

"What?" Cammie's face turned red. "No, everything's fine!"

"No, it's not," Zach walked over to the mat. "I can see it in your eyes."

Cammie sighed. She lowered her eyes to the ground. "Why'd you do it, then?"

"I don't know," Zach's replied sadly. "I...I couldn't resist."

"Resist?" Cammie looked up. "Is that how you think it goes? You just go around kissing girls because you can _resist_?"

"No!" Zach said quickly. "It's just that..." He made a frustrated sound. "I like you Cammie. A lot," he looked her in the eye. "I think you're beautiful in every way. Everything you do pretty much just takes my breath away." He paused. "But I don't know if this love can last."

"Why not?" Cammie asked.

"It's just-" Zach began, but Cammie interrupted him.

"Macey, Bex, and Liz were hiding something from me today," Cammie said. "They said something about your moth..."

"My moth?" Zach asked, clearly confused.

"Moth..." Cammie whispered to herself. _Moth, moth, moth...er._ "Mother," she said quietly. "They said something about your mother," she looked up.

Zach's face suddenly became very pale. "What is it?" Cammie asked. _What could be so bad about Zach's mother that no one wanted to speak about?_

Just then, Cammie's mind raced back to the events of when she had first met Zach and the rest of the gang:

* * *

_"Do you know who Catherine Goode is?" Joe asked Cammie._

_"Zach, why don't you get out of here," Bex suddenly said. "It won't do you any good listening to this."_

* * *

_Catherine had __fiery red hair__ and __a beautiful face__. Her green eyes made her expression seem all serious and business like. _Come to think of it,_ Cammie thought. _Her eyes sort of remind me of Zach's eyes.

* * *

_"It's just different with you and Zach."_

_"Different?" Cammie echoed. "Different how?"_

_"It's different because of Zach's moth-" Liz began to say, but Macey clamped a hand over her mouth just in time._

* * *

The truth dawned on Cammie. "I don't believe it...Catherine," she said. "She's your mother."

Cammie stared at Zach, who looked as white as a ghost. "Why didn't you tell me before?"

"I was going to," Zach stammered. "I just didn't want you to...hate me." He reached for Cammie's hand.

"Don't touch me," Cammie jerked her hand away. "I have to go," she mumbled and ran out of the room.

Over the next few days, Cammie didn't hear anything from Bex, Liz, or Macey (let alone Zach). Not that she was expecting anything from them. After all, she did stay cooped up in her room for majority of her time. Cammie felt so betrayed and mistrusted by Zach. How could he have lied to her like that? "I will never have feelings for him again," Cammie vowed. Why did it seem that she always got stuck in relationships that ended tragically. First Josh died, now Zach's mother was trying to hurt Cammie. What would be next?

Slowly, the Cammie's lonely days turned into a week, and Cammie had almost forgotten the whole situation with Zach. Until one night, she heard a soft scratching noise coming from underneath her door. Someone slipped a white paper through the crack and had left, leaving the paper to taunt Cammie out of her mind. One day, Cammie finally got up and decided to see what the slip of paper read. She walked to the door and picked up the paper.

_Can we talk? I don't want you sitting in your room thinking about Jimmy all day. _

_-Z_

Cammie stared down at Zach's messy scrawl. He wanted to talk. About Catherine? She wasn't too sure. _Should I go visit him?_ Cammie wondered. _Or leave him be? _I'll decide in the morning.Cammie fell asleep with these thoughts running through her mind.

_Cammie woke up sitting in a chair, hands and feet tied and mouth gagged. A woman stood across from her, arms behind her back. Catherine. She smiled menacingly and pulled out a knife from behind her. The same knife Cammie saw in her earlier dream with her parents. Cammie struggled against the ropes, but Catherine only laughed wickedly._

_"Oh, don't bother," Catherine's eyes glinted with evil. "You're body's too weak to break out of your bounds." Catherine came closer to her and trailed the blade of the knife along Cammie's jaw. _

_Cammie winced as Catherine spoke. "Such a beautiful face. It would be a shame to see it go to waste." She chuckled. "Too bad my little Zachy isn't here to see it."_

_Cammie gave out a cry of alarm as Catherine laughed. "Oh, are you wondering where he is? Don't worry, Zach is just fine where he is. "Aren't you, Zach?" she called out. _

_Suddenly, the wall on Cammie's right opened up and there was a sheet of glass that appeared. Zach sat in a chair behind it. He jumped up when he saw Cammie tied up. Zach came up to the glass and pounded on it with two fists. _

_"Now," Catherine looked at Zach. "I'm gonna make a deal with you, Zach. Join the Circle. Be the son I always wanted you to be."_

_Zach shook his head and gritted his teeth. "Never," he spat._

_Catherine just shrugged. "Okay then, your choice." She took a few steps away from Cammie and then lashed out at her with the knife in her hand. The blade struck against Cammie's face, and across her cheeks. Cammie screamed, as the pain nearly blinded her for a moment. She saw Zach out of the corner of her eye and realized that he was staring at her in gape mouth horror. "Get away from her," he growled._

_"You may have guessed it now," Catherine chuckled. "If you don't join the Circle, then your precious little girlfriend here gets hurt. Badly." She delivered another strike, but this time across her arms. Cammie's blood oozed out of the cut and dripped onto the floor. Red dots danced in front of Cammie's eyes. She couldn't see anything, but she still heard Catherine's voice. _

_"No!" Zach pounded on the glass again. "Please, just leave her alone."_

_"You know what you have to do," Catherine smiled._

_"Fine. I'll join the Circle. I'll do whatever you want me to do," Zach surrendered. "Just promise me that Cammie doesn't get hurt."_

_"No, Zach," Cammie croaked. "Don't do it."_

_"Fair enough," Catherine said. "I am a woman of my word." She squatted down in front of Cammie and smirked. "Would you look at that?" she whispered. "Looks like your boyfriend isn't so tough after all." She leaned back and struck Cammie across the head. Cammie crumpled forward, slowly falling unconcious. As she slipped away, she felt something brushing at her face. Zach's hand._

_"I'm so sorry," Zach whispered. Cammie felt drops of water falling onto her face. "So sorry..."_

_"Zach," Cammie said, barely above a whisper. She doubted he could hear her. She couldn't even hear herself. "Zach, I still love..."_

Cammie's eyes flew open. She stared at the ceiling, breathing heavily. _Zach risked his life for me,_ she thought. _He joined forces with the one thing he's hated in his entire life, just to protect me. _She sat up in bed and slipped on her shoes. Leaving her room, she padded softly down the hall and made her way to Zach's room. She stood at his door, wondering what she should do, when her instincts took over and she rapped the door lightly. Cammie waited for a few moments, and then the door was opened by a very tired Zach.

"Cammie?!" his eyes flew open when he realized who was standing at his door.

"Hi," Cammie smiled shyly.

"What- what are you doing here?" Zach asked, confused.

"I wanted to talk to you," Cammie explained.

"Now?" Zach said. He stepped back to let Cammie into his apartment. "What do you need?"

"It's about...us," Cammie replied. "I've finally made a decision. Your mom isn't a good person-"

"I knew it," Zach said bitterly. "You do hate me. You don't deserve to be with me. I mean, if my mom is a psychopath, then surely I am too, huh?"

"Zach, I didn't say that-" Cammie shook her head.

"I'm sorry that you had to know," Zach said. "You don't deserve this. I just...I couldn't lose the one person that didn't see _her_ when they looked at me."

"No, I'm sorry," Cammie walked closer to Zach. "I'm sorry that I can't be the girlfriend that you want me to be. I shouldn't judge you for who your family is. From where you ancestors are from. That's unfair."

Zach shook his head. "It doesn't matter. In the end, you will always feel some sort of remorse for me. I can't live with that."

"Yes, you can," Cammie stepped closer to Zach so that their bodies were touching. "You can." She paused for a bit. "I love you Zach."

_Zach is the only person I have ever felt whole with, she thought. He is the light to my darkness, he is the answer to my problems, he is the love to my heart. Without him...I am nothing._

And then Zach's arms were around her. And his lips were moving on hers. Cammie stood close to Zach, holding onto him because she never wanted to let go. And as Zach and Cammie stood together, Cammie realized that the kiss was real...and, for the one time in her life, Cammie felt like she was at home. And it was an incredible feeling.

**A/N: I hope you guys liked that :) Don't worry, this isn't the end of the story. I haven't even gotten to the action part yet! I'm saving all the exciting stuff for the next chapter. So stick around, and don't forget to review if you enjoyed this chapter. I'll see you guys later XD**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Hi guys. Sorry this chapter came out so late. What can I say? School is school. And I had a LOT of writers' block. It was really bad. This chapter is probably my worst one yet, so sorry if you hate it. Anyways, one of my guest reviewers said that I "moved on too quickly with the whole Zammie thing." I went back to the chapter and reread it. Truth is, they were right. That whole part was sounding kinda weird, so I went ahead and added something. It was a dream about Cammie, Catherine, and Zach. So, if you haven't read that dream part yet, I suggest you go back and read it before you read this chapter, okay? Thanks.**

**Disclaimer: **I don't own any of the Gallagher Girls characters. Only the plot and setting(s) are mine.

* * *

**Chapter 9**

Cammie woke up with her head lying on Zach's chest. She yawned and sat up, rubbing her eyes. Zach stirred beside her and blinked his eyes open tiredly. "Gallagher Girl?" he mumbled.

"Right here," Cammie turned her head to him and smiled. Zach slowly sat up and yawned as well. "Good morning," he rubbed her back.

"Morning," Cammie bit her lip and stood up. "I...uh...I just wanted to apologize for barging into your apartment yesterday-"

"Don't worry," Zach waved his hand dismissively. "I'm glad you did."

"Oh...Well, what happened after I left the gym?" Cammie asked anxiously.

"I went ahead and told Joe about it," Zach replied. "All he said was to leave you alone for a little bit and that the whole situation would blow over."

Cammie nodded dully. Her stomach started to growl, and she glanced longingly at the door. "Can we go get some breakfast?" she asked.

Zach laughed. "Sure, just give me five minutes." He disappeared into the bathroom.

After they brushed their teeth, Cammie and Zach made their way to the cafeteria, walking down the hall hand in hand. They were laughing and making small talk, and Cammie couldn't help but grin like an idiot. She felt so happy. So... in love. As entered the cafeteria, Cammie immediately heard a small squeal.

"Cam!" Liz rushed towards Cammie and threw her arms around her. "Are you okay?"

"Lizzie," Cammie croaked. "Can't...breathe."

"Oh! Sorry!" Liz stepped back, sheepishly. Bex and Macey came up behind her, wearing questioning looks.

Bex glanced at Zach and seemed to notice how close he was standing next to Cammie. "Is everything okay now between you two?" she raised an eyebrow.

Cammie grinned at Zach and nodded. "Everything's fine."

"So you two made up?" Macey asked. "Cam, you don't hate him anymore?"

"No," Cammie blushed. Macey took the hint and nodded thoughtfully. "Ohhh...I get it." She pulled Cammie's arm. "C'mon, you must be hungry. You've barely eaten anything over the past two days."

Cammie let Macey lead her towards the table where Grant, Jonas, and Joe were all sitting.

"Hey, Camster," Grant smiled at her. Cammie rolled her eyes.

"What did I tell you?" Zach laughed as he took the seat next to her.

"I see that everything's gone back to normal with you and Zach?" Joe asked.

Cammie nodded. "We, uh...talked things out."

"Just talked?" Macey smirked. Cammie's cheeks turned hot, and became red as Zach clasped his hand with hers.

"Well, now that you two have made up," Joe continued. "Cammie's going to have to keep going with her training. Well, 'start training' since Zach told me that you didn't do anything yesterday in the gym." Joe looked at Cammie, who lowered her eyes. "I will be expecting double the effort today in order to make up for the lost time yesterday, all right?"

Cammie nodded. "Yes, sir," she muttered.

"And you will be starting your classes today," Joe informed Cammie. "Come by my office after breakfast to pick up your necessities, okay?" Joe stood up and left the cafeteria.

"Cammie," Zach said when Joe left. "Before you leave, I just have to clarify something with you..."

"Yeah?" Cammie turned towards him.

"I was talking to Tina the other day..." Zach started, and then it seemed that he couldn't hold it in any longer. "Seriously?! _Jackets_?!"

The gang burst out laughing as Cammie turned red and apologized to Zach.

* * *

After breakfast, the gang went to Joe's office with Cammie to get her school supplies. Joe explained the basic subjects she would be taking.

"You will receive minimal homework in these classes, but you that doesn't mean that you don't try your best," Joe informed Cammie. "Here's what you need," Joe pulled open a drawer on his desk and took out a small flash drive.

"Is this all?" Cammie asked uncertainly as Joe handed her the black stick.

"This has all the information you need," Joe assured her. "You can access this on any computer, but you will have to input an access code and scan your fingerprint."

"We all have our own memory sticks, Cam," Bex said from behind her.

Cammie nodded and Joe dismissed her. "Your first class is Computing. Mr. Mosckowitz will be your teacher. Zach, Liz, and Jonas have your first class with you. They'll take you there."

When Joe was finished with his brief explanation, Cammie was whisked away to her first class, Computing. She met Mr. Mosckowitz, who was, as Liz had said, Jonas's favorite teacher. As Mr. Mosckowitz tried to explain the basics of bypassing a single firewall to Cammie, all Jonas did was interrupt with important and random facts every few seconds, which made Cammie even more confused. Eventually, Mr. Mosckowitz gave up and asked Zach to help explain. Cammie found herself getting even more distracted as she stared into Zach's luminous green eyes while he spoke.

"And lastly, you have to make sure you're in incognito all the time so no one can track down where the bypass was made from, got it?" Zach asked.

Cammie suddenly realized that Zach had asked her a question. "Huh? I mean, yeah...I got it..." she trailed off, not knowing what he had asked.

Research and Development wasn't any better. Dr. Fibbs was a very absent minded man, and kept on forgetting Cammie's name. During the first day there, Cammie was required to make a chemical that would make a person forget everything that just happened in the last half an hour. With the help of Liz, Cammie was able to conjure a purple, foul-smelling solution. Unfortunately, Liz knocked over the vial with the chemical in it, and the liquid spread to none other than Dr. Fibbs himself. The next few minutes were spent trying to tell Dr. Fibbs all that had happened within the past 30 minutes and why he couldn't remember anything.

The day went on like this, with Cammie trying new things in different classes. She learned how dance in Madame Dabney's class, sparred a little in P&E, and she learned all about the old country of Venezuela with Professor Smith.

Finally, the time for the class Cammie had been waiting for, Covert and Operations, arrived. When Cammie arrived in the classroom, there were a ten other students in the already seated. They were all girls. Joe was nowhere to be seen, so Cammie just took a seat in the back of the room with the rest of the class. Cammie looked around and spotted Tina Walters int the midst of all the other girls, who waved excitedly to her. As the minutes ticked by, Cammie began to wonder if Joe was actually going to show up to class to teach.

"Don't worry," Bex smiled. "He never comes to class on time."

Suddenly, Cammie heard a voice from the doorway. "Miss McHenry." She whirled around in her seat and saw Joe leaning against the door frame with his arms crossed.

"When conducting manual surveillance on a subject on a three-man rotation, the person with the visual contact the..."

Liz's hand shot into the air and she squirmed in her seat so she could answer the question. Joe ignored her and continued staring at Macey.

"Eyeball," Macey rattled off.

"Correct," Joe said. He entered the room and made his way through the desks. "Miss Baxter, the person within sight of the eyeball is the..."

Liz's hand remained in the air and this time she even waved it a little.

"Backup," Bex replied.

"And Miss Morgan," Joe looked a Cammie, while maintaining a solemn look on his face. "What is the final person called?"

"Uhhh..." Cammie stared at Joe. How was she expected to know this stuff? And why did Joe call her Miss Morgan? He was acting a lot different than the man Cammie knew back in Gallagher.

Cammie's eyes darted to Liz, who was still raising the same arm. "I...I don't know," It sounded like a stupid thing to say, but it was the only thing Cammie could think of right at the moment.

"Miss Morgan," Joe said with a tinge of disappointment in his voice. "If you want to be a part of this class, and this alliance, I expect you to _know everything_. I expect you to_ see everything. _And right now...all I'm seeing right now, is foolishness."

Cammie's breath hitched. Why in the world was Joe acting this way? She was his half-daughter, for heaven's sake!

"Welcome to Covert Operations, Miss Morgan. I may have not taught _you_ before, but I've been doing this stuff for eighteen years, and I'm still breathing, so that means I know what I'm talking about." He leaned closer to Cammie's face. "Let me tell you one thing. This is _not_ going to be like your other classes. I'm going to get you ready for what goes on. Out there. It's not for everyone and that's why I'm going to make this hard on you. Understood?"

Cammie nodded. "Sorry, Joe," she mumbled.

"I'm not your father anymore, Miss Morgan," Joe said firmly. "You can call me what the rest of the class calls me."

Cammie looked at him with questioning eyes, but didn't argue. "Sorry...Mr. Solomon," she cringed at the unfamiliarity of the name.

"Back to the question I asked Miss Morgan earlier," Joe leaned back and gazed at the rest of the class. "Ladies, can you share the answer?"

"The reserve," the class chorused in unison and Cammie's cheeks turned red.

Joe put crossed his arms and leaned against the wall in the front of the room. "In the field, ladies, you can never have things go as planned. I fully expect you to master the ability to improvise. Which brings us to today's...activity."

The way he said 'activity' made the hairs on Cammie's neck stand up. _Activity? What activity?_ Cammie looked around the room, seeing the emotions on the girls' faces. Most of the students were excited, but somehow, Cammie felt as if this activity would be far from anything she could be excited about.

Joe stood straight. "We are going to do a run in the simulation room."

The class burst into excited whispers. "Simulation room?" Cammie whispered to Bex.

"A simulation room, Miss Morgan," Joe said. "Is the building where we run through a basic Cove Ops mission. The room will change depending on the assignment I give, and you will be graded on how well your team performs." He walked over to the door of the room. "Follow me."

The girls jumped out of their seats and filed out of the room, leaving Macey, Bex, Liz, and Cammie behind. Cammie stood up and looked at the four girls. "Either I'm starting to become paranoid, or Joe hates me."

"Cam, don't worry," Bex assured her as the four girls hurried down the hall. "This is how Joe acts during CoveOps and missions. He's completely normal when we're not in class."

Cammie sighed and quickened her pace to keep up with the rest of the class.

* * *

It turned out that the simulation room was a really big room. When they entered, Cammie noticed that the walls climbed at least 100 meters. the room was empty and everything was grey.

"This is the simulation room, Miss Morgan," Joe stepped into the center of the room and spread his arms wide. "After I announce your mission, the room will be set up to match the mission."

"What's our assignment?" Tina asked curiously.

Joe smiled as the door opened. The girls turned their heads and saw a group of boys all standing at the entrance. In the front of the group was Zach, Grant, and Jonas, grinning from ear to ear.

"Zach?!" Cammie said surprisingly. "What are you doing here?"

"Ready for a game of hide and seek, Gallagher Girl?"

**A/N: That was horrible, wasn't it? I'm sorry. I'm kinda just lacking inspiration right now. There will be more action in the next chapter; this one was mostly a filler chapter. Anyways, I'll see you soon! (Hopefully XD)**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: I'm so so so sorry guys. I know it's been like forever since I updated, and I apologize. I hate to say it, but this Fanfic has been on the bottom of my to-do list for the past couple of weeks. I'll try to update throughout the next few days.**

**So the last chapter was boring. I made one that's a little better for you guys. One thing, though. Just imagine the CoveOps assignment in the simulation room in this chapter as the fear landscape simulation thing in Divergent, okay? Speaking of Divergent, has anyone seen the movie yet? How was it? I'm going on Saturday. Enjoy :) **

**Disclaimer: All rights go to Ally Carter.**

* * *

**Chapter 10**

"Ready for a game of hide and seek, Gallagher Girl?" Zach smirked.

"Hide and seek?" Cammie echoed. She turned to Joe, who explained what Zach meant.

"Today's CoveOps mission will be a basic surveillance operation," Joe said. "I have divided you into two teams. Boys versus girls. The _boys_ will be assigned a character each and a disguise. This assignment will be timed for three hours."

"In those three hours, it is the _girl's_ job to make it to a certain destination without being tailed by the boys. If you don't make it, congratulations girls, you've just failed today's assignment." Joe started passing out black bags to the boys.

"Guys, inside is your costume. Don't show anyone else what it looks like. You will have fifteen minutes to change into your disguise." Joe gave a long look at the line of boys. "Understood?"

Zach caught Cammie's eyes and smiled supportively. "You'll do fine," he mouthed. Cammie nodded appreciatively and smiled as the boys walked out of the room, leaving the girls inside the room with Joe.

Cammie gulped and glanced at Macey, Bex and Liz. Bex's eyes were gleaming, Macey looked bored (as usual), and Liz was biting her nails.

"Okay, ladies," Joe came forward and handed a white envelope to Tina. "Here's your destination."

Tina clutched the envelope as if she was holding onto it for dear life. Cammie didn't feel bad for her. If Tina looked scared, then Cammie was going to have some trouble as well.

"The boys should be out soon," Joe walked towards the door of the room. "I'm going to put up the landscape up. Oh, and ladies," he added. "try your best not to get startled."

Joe exited the big room and entered the control area that was connected to the room with a glass window. He clicked a few buttons and the simulation room whirred to life. Lights started flashing, beeping sounds echoed throughout the room and the skylights at the top of the room were covered with steel shutters, sealing the room in darkness.

Cammie looked at Liz, who was staring at the presentation with huge grin on her face.

"Now, all he needs to do is program the computer into displaying little pixels with colors that represent the object he wants," Liz said in awe.

"Right," Cammie nodded without understanding half of what Liz said. Suddenly, the ground beneath them, seemed to disappear. The girls stumbled backwards as buildings started to pop up from the ground. The moved across the floor swiftly and stopped at random places. Bushes, flowers, and other nature appeared out of nowhere. Cammie looked up. A pale blue color crawled out onto the ceiling, with a splash of yellow shining in the corner. Cammie blinked, and she was suddenly standing underneath a clear blue sky with the sun warming her face.

"This is so cool..." Cammie breathed.

"You should see the other landscapes that Joe creates," Macey smiled.

Cammie's mouth fell open. Gone was the empty walls and drab gray floors. Instead, a new world seemed to have taken its place. It didn't even seem that she was in a room anymore. Instead, the girls were standing in the middle of a town square. There was a bubbling fountain located a few feet from her. Cammie looked around her and saw that the town square was part of a village. It wasn't a village she knew, but it looked similar to Gallagher. She saw a brown plaque next to the fountain and walked towards it. The other girls followed.

"Roseville," she read allowed and frowned.

"Roseville?" Bex repeated. "Never heard of that village before."

"Oh my god," Liz said softly. "Look!"

Cammie stepped back and realized that the village had suddenly come to life. People were walking around, going about their daily lives. _Where had all these people come from? _

Then, the truth dawned on her. _The boys,_ she thought. _It's them, hidden underneath their own disguises._ But there were definitely more than the number of students that were participating in the CoveOps mission. Were they all Blackthorne boys and teachers? Or additional holograms projected for the simulation?

Just to make sure, Cammie smiled at one of the guy that walked past her. He smiled back and continued walking. _Okay, definitely not a hologram._ Cammie whirled around subtly, studying at each person that went by her. Was that Zach underneath the wavy black hair and blue eyes?

"Okay, ladies," Joe's voice boomed over the intercom. "You know what to do. You may pair up or work with anyone you want. Tina, you can open the envelope now."

The girls crowded around Tina, who gingerly opened the flap and pulled out a slip of paper. "Flower stand in market place."

The girls looked at one another nervously. "Good luck, guys," Tina smiled.

"I'll stay with you, Cammie, since it's your first assignment," Bex reassured her.

Cammie nodded and suddenly felt worried...and scared. She was going to have to be very careful during this assignment. _I can do this, _Cammie thought to herself. _I am a pavement artist...no one can see me._ She heard a loud beep and looked up. A large clock was placed against one of the buildings. The screen read 3:00:00. Suddenly, the clock started, and the screen showed 2:59:59.

The simulation had begun.

* * *

Cammie's heart raced as the clock began to count down seconds. And then the seconds turned to minutes.

"Come on," Bex took Cammie's hand and pulled her towards the residential part of the village. Here, they mingled with the other villagers while keeping a lookout for any tails. Cammie glanced to her left. A man was standing against a house, smoking a cigarette. _Is he our tail? _Cammie thought. _This is going to be a long day._

Cammie and Bex spent the next hour or so scouring the whole residential area. They entered buildings, only to exit them two minutes later. They bent down, tied their shoelaces, stopped to sniff flowers, complimented people's appearances; all when they didn't need to. Right now, Cammie and Bex were strolling through a small park in the village. Cammie looked around discreetly, taking in everything around her. She turned back towards Bex, who was staring at the reflection of the timer in a puddle of water. The time now read 1:50:37.

"Here's the thing you need to know about detecting and losing a tail," Bex declared as she and Cammie strolled through a small park in the village. "It's-"

Before Bex could finish her sentence, a loud alarm started blaring through the village. Cammie and Bex looked around in surprise. A red alarm bell that Cammie had never noticed before now hung next to the timer. The numbers on the clock had disappeared, now replaced with the words "CODE BLACK."

"Shit," Bex pulled Cammie's hand and led her through the village. As Bex was tugging her along, Cammie glanced around and saw that all the other villagers had similar expressions as the one on Bex's face. They looked scared, worried, and determined. _We've had Code Blacks in Gallagher before,_ Cammie thought. _But never like this. _She wriggled her hand out from Bex's grasp and put her hands over her ears to block out the alarm's noise.

Suddenly, the entire village started to disappear. The buildings sank beneath the floors, the blue sky overhead flickered and faded away, and all that was left were the crowd of villagers standing in the middle of the empty simulation room. The men and boys started taking off wigs, and jackets, and fake mustaches. _The boys's disguises,_ Cammie thought. She spotted Mr. Mocowitz and Professor Smith in the crowd, shouting orders to the other students. She craned her neck to see if she could spot Zach anywhere. Instead, she saw Tina and some other girl students taking orders from the teachers.

In the middle of the room stood Macey and Liz. They spotted Cammie and Bex and rushed over to them.

"Cam," Liz cried and took her from Bex.

"Lizzie, take Cam to her room," Bex ordered. "Lock the door, and don't let anyone inside until the next hour or so is over. Not even me." Bex turned to Macey. "We have to go."

"What's going on?" Cammie asked the girls.

"Just take her," Bex told Liz. Liz nodded and pulled Cammie to the doors. Cammie looked over her shoulder and saw Macey and Bex standing with a sad look on their faces.

"The simulation," Cammie shouted to Liz over the ringing alarm. "Why did it stop?"

"It's a Code Black," Liz explained as they hurried down the hallways. "The Circle is nearby." As they ran down the corridor, the windows and skylights above them were shielded by steel shutters, and bolts were screwed on tight.

"What?!" Cammie asked. "I thought you said that the location of Blackthorne was classified! Even I don't know where we are!"

"It is," Liz assured her. "For now." She gave a sidelong glance at Cammie. "The Circle has been wanting to find out the location of Blackthorne for a while now, but they've been pretty persistent ever since..." Liz trailed off.

"Ever since what?" Cammie asked even though she was sure she knew the answer already.

"Ever since you came along," Liz said quietly.

"But that was like two weeks ago!" Cammie exclaimed. She stopped as she and Liz arrived at the elevators. Liz pushed the button multiple times.

"Gallagher Girl!" A voice called out from behind her. Cammie whirled around and saw Zach and Joe running towards her.

"Are you all right?" Zach asked protectively. He placed his hands on her cheeks and tilted her face upwards.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Cammie replied distractedly. "Why wouldn't I be?" She stared into his eyes, looking for any sign of emotion that would give her a clue to what was going on. All she could see was anxiousness and worry.

"Liz," Joe asked. "Are you taking Cammie to her room?" Liz nodded. The elevator arrived and the doors slid open. Liz pulled Cammie inside despite her protests.

"Wait, what's going on?" Cammie demanded. "Why is is such a big deal that the Circle doesn't find me?" She gave a pleading look to Zach.

"Gallagher Girl, I promise everything will make sense after this," Zach said quickly as the doors started to close. "Just stay put for-" His voice cut off as the doors closed.

"Zach..." Cammie whispered so quietly that even Liz couldn't hear while standing next to her. The elevator slowly sank lower and lower to Cammie's floor.

"Cam," Liz placed a hesitant hand on Cammie's forearm. "You do know how important you are to us, right? All of us."

"But why?" Cammie looked at Liz. "Why am I such a big deal?" The elevator ringed and lurched to a stop. The doors slid open, and Liz and Cammie hurried towards Cammie's room.

Cammie unlocked the door for Liz and followed her into the room. She turned around as she entered and bolted the door shut. As she turned back around, she saw Liz dragging a chair to the door and placing it underneath the knob. "Just in case," she explained.

"Okay, what is going on?" Cammie glared at Liz.

Liz sighed. "Well, I suppose you do deserve a explanation." Liz sank into one of Cammie's armchairs and put her head against her tired arm. "Ever since you were little, the Circle has been after you. Nobody really knows why. It could be be because of your parents and their relationship with Catherine, or something else. We don't know." Liz looked at Cammie sadly and shook her head. "Joe told you that Catherine was taking over the villages," Liz said. "She was starting slow. I guess, now that Gallagher was destroyed, she's been trying even harder to find you."

"Zach," Cammie recalled. "Bex, Macey, Joe. Are they going after her now?"

"Just protecting the perimeter, that's all," Liz smiled. "Nothing to serious."

"But that's what we're going to do eventually, right?" Cammie asked.

"Cam-" Liz started.

"We have to!" Cammie interrupted. She stood up from the bed. "I'm not going to let her get away with what she's been doing all these years. I'm pretty sure Joe was going to send up half of Blackthorne to attack Cavan."

Liz stared at her hands in her lap. "Yes," she mumbled. "That was the plan."

Cammie exhaled and paced the room. "The sooner the better. I should be out there, protecting the perimeter, too," she said. "I can fight just as well as any of them-"

"Cam, no," Liz cut in sternly. "Joe would never forgive himself you got hurt. Worse, killed. Neither would Zach. Anyone of us girls, too, for that matter."

Cammie nodded and collapsed back on the bed. "What am I supposed to do know?"

"Wait," Liz said softly. "And pray." And so they did.

* * *

After about an hour, Cammie was working on her COW homework absentmindedly. Liz was slumbering softly on her armchair. Suddenly, somebody knocked. She jumped up, startled, and glanced over at the door. Was her ears playing tricks on her again? Sure enough, a second knock pounded on the door; this time even louder.

Cammie slowly stood from her seat. Liz's eyes blinked open and she yawned.

"What happened?" Liz asked sleepily. The knock rapped once again, this time accompanied by a "Cam, it's me, Bex!"

Cammie jogged over and peered through the peep hole. "It's them," she said, relieved.

Cammie moved the chair aside and threw the door open. Bex stood there, with Macey, Zach, Joe and Grant behind her. Even Jonas was included, pushing his glasses back up the bridge of his nose.

"Cam," Bex breathed a sigh of relief. "You're all right?"

"Yeah," Cam smiled. Liz came up beside her. "Liz protected me," she gave the blonde a small nudge of her shoulder. Cammie turned back towards the group, her expression serious. "What happened out there?"

"All we saw were a couple of Circle droids," Macey smirked. "Jonas here shut all them off, and then reprogrammed the machines telling them that they didn't find Blackthorne."

"That's all?" Cammie asked.

Zach nodded and pushed his way into the room. "You know that we wouldn't let anybody hurt you, Gallagher Girl..." He hurriedly added on to make his sentence less suspicious. "Not that anyone is hunting you down or anything..."

"It's okay," Cammie smiled. "Liz told me everything." She stepped back and let the six people into her room. They took seats on the chairs, her desk, bed, and on the floor. Cammie leaned against the wall near her bathroom.

"And I want in," Cammie stared at all the people inside the room.

"What?" Grant burrowed his eyebrows.

"I want to go out with you during a Code Black," Cammie said defiantly.

"Kiddo, that's dangerous," Joe pointed out.

"So what?" Cammie said. "I've been in the face of danger before. There shouldn't be a problem."

"Cameron, what I think Joe is trying to say, is-" Bex started.

"Don't _Cameron_ me," Cammie snapped back. "I really want to do this."

"Gallagher Girl," Zach stared at Cammie. "You are not going out there. Not unless the Circle has been taken down."

"So let's take 'em down!" Cammie cried. "What's the big deal?"

"You know," Macey said. "I think she has a point."

Grant gasped. "How can you agree with her?"

"Look at her," Macey shrugged. "It's obvious that she hates being trapped in here."

"Exactly," Cammie said thankfully. "I mean, I don't even know the location of Blackthorne!"

"That's because-" Joe started.

"Because what?" Cammie asked. "It's classified? I'm supposed to keep it a secret. That I'll tell somebody? Who do I have to tell, anyways?"

"True," Jonas shrugged. He glanced around the group. "I think she deserves a chance."

"Fine," Joe snapped. "You're not going to be scouring the perimeter, but I'll take you to Gallagher. Just remember that you're going to have to wait a while. It's not safe this just minute. Got it?"

"Yeah," Cammie nodded. "How long?"

"Possibly a week," Joe informed. "Now, I want you to start your training period with Zach." He left the room followed by Liz, Jonas, Macey, Bex, and Grant.

Cammie groaned to herself. A week? She couldn't wait that long!

"Come on, Gallagher Girl," Zach put his arm around her waist and steered her into the bathroom. "Go change and meet me in the gym." He pressed his lips to her forehead. "We'll do a few _work _out sessions. And not just _work _out sessions." He wiggled his eyebrows.

"Ewww...Zach, that's gross..." Cammie swatted his arms and shooed him out of her room.

* * *

**A/N: Okay, so I was wrong. This isn't going to be the action packed chapter. The next one is. Sorry if you guys were excited about that. I just didn't want to make this chapter super long, and then make the next one super short, 'cuz then you would get mad -_- So, for everyone's sake, I'll give you a spoiler to keep you anticipated. In the next chapter, Cammie will finally *cough* meet Catherine *cough*. But you didn't hear it from me!**

**Well, I hope you enjoyed that, and don't forget to review! I'm sure you think this chapter was a flop as well. Sorry about that... Anyways, I'll see you guys later, then. Bye :)**


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